The Other Side of the Coin
by Arrow-chan3
Summary: Two clashing sides entwined by fate each fought for their own reasons until this date. When trouble arises, will truth be said, or will everything be all too late? NO LONGER ACCEPTING OCS (Sequel to TSOTSC) Will be updated after New Years.
1. Prologue: The Start of Everything (OCs)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword!**

 **3: Welp! This is the second OC-filled fict! :D**

 **This story takes place at the same dimension as the TSOTSC story! This story starts around a few months before TSOTSC's first chapter XD At least, the prologue does XD #slapped XwX**

 **Anyways~ This story has two sides you can join~ XDDDD**

 **The two sides are named the Organization Side and the Police Side. Feel free to guess which side is the evil one and which one isn't :DDD #slapped XwX**

 **Prologue**

Blue eyes fluttered open, cringing slightly as it was still not used to the brightness of the room, not having been opened for quite a while. It took a minute, but the owner of the eyes, a young man having black hair, was able to adjust himself to the light.

"Where am I..?" he mumbled to himself, voice hoarse as if it hadn't been used in a long time.

Upon observation, he noticed that the place he was in is a room having cream-colored walls and plain, brown curtains. The room itself was nothing extravagant. It was simple, really, only having a bed that he was laying on and a wooden table and chair nearby. The bed isn't a comfy one either. It has a hard surface, but the pillow was soft enough to not hurt his head.

The sound of chirping birds were heard from outside the opened windows, the sunlight's rays visible to him as it revealed the dusts dancing in the air. The view of the outside showed that of a busy town, with noises of chatter and metal hitting against metal being audible to him.

The man realized soon after that he had been dressed with bandages, especially his stomach. Memories returned to him about that day, that time when his home was attacked, when he had been stabbed with a sword, the day he lost everything, except, hopefully, for one person.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door click open as a young man who looked younger than him enter the room with a wooden basin filled with water in his hands. The young man has wavy, cream-colored hair and pink eyes, wearing the usual clothes of a normal citizen which consists of a white, long-sleeved cotton shirt and brown trousers. He looked surprised at seeing him awake, but smiled cheerfully right after.

"Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling?" he asked as he closed the door and placed the basin on the wooden table.

"Okay, I guess. Who are you? Where am I, and how?" the black-haired man questioned, confused.

"Call me Loque. This is my house. As for why... I saw you nearly dying in the middle of some ruins and saved you, I guess. If I may ask, what happened there?" he replied, asking him another question.

The wounded man looked uncomfortable in answering that, something the cream-haired boy noticed.

"You don't need to answer that if you don't want to. I understand." he said, chuckling as he approached him, kneeling slightly, and placed a hand on his forehead, as if to check his temperature.

"Hm... Good, your fever went down a little..." he mumbled in an audible voice, "You should still rest for a bit, though. Your wound's still not healed up yet either."

"I'm oka- Ugh..!" the black-haired man cringed when he tried to sit upright, his hand instinctively going to his stomach.

Loque frowned at his stubbornness and sighed as he stood up straight.

"Clearly you aren't. Stop trying to force yourself and at least lay down for a bit, will you? Or else the wound's gonna open up again." he told him with a grim look, picking up a cloth from the side of the bed that had fallen off when the man had moved and walked towards the table.

Knowing that he really isn't in the place to argue with him, the wounded man nodded and returned back to his previous position, placing his head on the pillow.

"Is there anyone else who lives here?" he decided to ask, curious, and is uncomfortable of the silence as well.

"No, I live alone." Loque replied, squeezing most of the water out of the cloth that he had just put into the basin and went to place it on the man's forehead before returning back to the table.

"Even parents?" he asked as the boy took the basin in his hands.

"I had one, but he died of old age a few years ago." the boy answered, earning a surprised look.

"He's that old?" the man remarked in disbelief. The cream-haired boy laughed, as if finding the question silly.

"I was adopted." he replied.

"Oh, sorry."

Chuckling, Loque realized that he hadn't asked something important.

"Speaking of which, what's your name?"

"My name?" the wounded man repeated, earning a nod. "It's Cain."

"I see. Nice to meet you, Cain, despite these strange circumstances." Loque said, chuckling.

"Indeed. Nice to meet you too, Loque." Cain replied, a smile on his face.

.

Within a week, Cain had been cured completely of his wound, but he still stayed in Loque's home since his was... well... gone.

During his stay, he learned that the cream-haired young man is a blacksmith of Velder, and that he is continuing his adopted father's job in making weapons. Cain tried to help him a few times, but most of them usually ended in a mess and he was now only allowed to help him by fetching some things he needed to use instead of making the weapon itself.

Although Loque claimed that he didn't mind his stay, the black-haired man still felt uncomfortable in living there, since he felt that he wasn't really being of use in any way.

He's already healthy enough, so... he was thinking on applying for a job, at least.

"Oh, there was this combat organization that was searching for some people to work for them. You said you're good at fighting, right? Maybe that would be a good job for you?" Loque suggested one day.

Honestly, it seemed to be a decent job for him, so he agreed.

Promising that he'll still visit the blacksmith boy from time to time, Cain now found himself being one of the early members of the organization he joined into, one having peculiar members.

 **(Organization Side)**

 **~At a building~**

At the office, he saw a few people inside.

A man was sitting on the director's seat, while three other people sat on the couches. One was listening to music from his wireless, red headphones. One was... flipping his hair as he stared at himself with a mirror... And one was trying to stay away from the one with the mirror as he looked at him as if he was a weird person.

The man has neat, chocolate-colored hair, blue eyes, wearing a brown-colored, formal looking suit, and black formal shoes. He is also wearing a pair of glasses, having a pose that clearly screams, 'Da-Boss'.

The one listening to music has slightly long, wavy, dark red hair, red eyes, has a black eyepatch that covers his left eye, and wears a black, turtleneck sweater having long sleeves with a short-sleeved dark red T-shirt over it, a darker red shade of pants with tattered ends, and dark red shoes.

The one with the mirror has sparkling(?), long, wavy, glittery(?), pink hair that is tied into a ponytail with a rainbow ribbon, purple eyes, wears some kind of white noble outfit, black pants, and black formal-looking shoes.

'... Is he a narcissist?' Cain couldn't help but think. He himself is wearing a white, long-sleeved cotton shirt, midnight blue trousers tucked inside his calf-length, black leather boots, the same shade of blue for his cape, leather gloves, and a piece of fabric as a belt tied slightly above the hips. His cape has white fur on the collar and silver chain buttons. A silver, tiny string ornament is tied on the lower right side of the hair framing his face, the only part he kept longer than the rest of his hair.

The one trying to stay away from the strange man looked like a little child around the age of nine to eleven or so. He has slightly messy, black hair with white highlights at the ends of his hair that is tied into a small, thin, low ponytail that reached somewhere above his waist. He has gray eyes, and wears a long-sleeved, gray, unzipped jacket having white fur, a white and gray striped T-shirt, black shorts, and white sneakers.

The black-haired man blinked, not believing that they actually recruited a little child into the organization. Shouldn't they be the one protecting him instead?

"You're here. That means that we can start the introductions." the man said with folded hands as he looked at the four of them seriously. "Sit down." Cain nodded and sat down next to the kid.

"First of all, I thank you four for volunteering in joining our organization. The only thing we ask of you is simple... Help us by stopping the police from finishing their missions. We have an expert hacker here who can hack through their mission files, so it won't be a problem for us to know what they'll do next." the man said.

The little boy blinked. "Stop the police? So we're the bad guys?"

The group stared at the director after that statement.

The director shook his head. "No. This police... isn't actually the police. They're little, clever thieves who acted as the police after stealing their place to reach their real objective. What it is, we're still trying to find out. The truth is... We're the real police, but they have someone with hypnotizing skills that causes the citizens to not believe in us." he explained, clenching his fists as he did.

The little boy gasped. "T-That's evil!" "We know... That's why we're trying to stop them at all costs... To start it off, we'll be giving the four of you code names. They must not know about your true identities. Apparently, they can only hypnotize people when they can see their faces or can imagine it, so we'll also be giving you four a mask that has a relation to your codename. But first, you may introduce yourselves. Starting from him." he pointed towards the dark red-haired young man, who completely did not pay attention.

It was only when the director facepalmed and went to him personally to take his headphones off from him that he returned back to reality.

"Name?" the director asked, getting annoyed by now.

"Oops, sorry. Name's Eien Hashire, but you guys can just call me En," he said in a sheepish way, "Can I have my headphones back now?"

Rolling his eyes, the director merely walked back to his seat.

"I'll keep this for today." he replied, earning a horrified look from its owner.

"My name is Cain." Cain said, bowing his head politely as he ignored the sulking male next to him.

"Cyl Chess Lymphogale. Call me Chess!" the little boy exclaimed energetically.

The pink-haired... man... suddenly stood on top of the couch and did a dramatic pose, saying, "I am the meaning of life, beauty, hope, and the wishes of man, Vince Vivienne von D'Light!~" he exclaimed as he reached out a hand dramatically to the ceiling.

Crickets started sounding as sparkles somehow surrounded him.

The director coughed. "Um... Okay... So... Let me tell you your codenames. Uhh... Mister... Vince... Please, return to your seat."

The pink-haired man gracefully slid back to his seat.

"Thank you."

The man pointed towards Cain.

"After seeing what your abilities allow you to do, I have decided to give you the codename... Spirit." The young man nodded. "Okay." he said.

"For you... Rock. Since it's the music genre you love to play." he said, pointing towards the dark red-haired boy who grinned. "Gladly, boss!"

"You..." his finger stopped at the pink-haired man who is flipping his hair like a boss. "Your codename is... Imbecile."

The three other boys gaped at the offending codename, but got even more shocked at what Vince said after.

"Oh, what a unique sounding codename~ Though, I think I'd prefer to be called Cile~ It's just filled with more elegance~" he said cheerfully, doing another flip of his hair.

The three looked at each other in disbelief. That guy... Probably does not know what imbecile meant.

"And your codename..." the boss started, pointing towards the boy with sparkly eyes, "Is Chess."

"What?! But that's my name!" he whined.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't think of any other codenames..."

Cain and En stared at Chess before nodding in agreement. Honestly, even they couldn't think of any other names, with the black and white theme going on and all.

Chess started to sulk in a nearby corner, having his hopes crushed of having a codename that isn't his name.

"You'll be getting your masks tomorrow. For now, have some rest. You'll probably have a busy day depending if our hacker finds some information about their mission or not." the director said, smiling towards them.

"Alright, sir!" the three exclaimed as they gave him a salute. Vince, however, merely said...

"Oh, finally~ I can finally get my beauty sleep~ It's been HOURS since I've had one~"

En sweatdropped before turning towards the director. "By the way, boss, what's your name?"

"Lint Shadence. You all may just call me Lint." he said. "'Kay, Sir Lint! We'll see ya later, then~"

As they all left, Lint facepalmed.

"I told him to just call me Lint..!"

.

On their way back to their rooms, Chess noticed that Cain was deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about, Cain?" he asked in pure curiosity.

"I was wondering on what I did during my younger days." he replied with a serious expression, still doing his thinking pose as they walked.

The little boy blinked. "What? How old are you anyway?"

"... Twenty-one?"

"You're not even that old!"

.

 **(Police Side)**

In a large living room, several people were just doing some random things as they waited to receive orders from their inspector.

One of them has dark blue hair that nearly reached her waist, gray eyes, and is wearing a blue, puffy hat with white fur and a white treble cleff note as decorations, a dark blue T-shirt having ruffled ends topped with a long-sleeved, unbuttoned, lighter blue cardigan that only reached her stomach having white, furry collar, dark blue jeans, and white sneakers. She was playing a white-colored flute, filling the room with a soothing tune.

Another one has short, neat, black hair with dark purple highlights at the ends of his hair having long bangs that nearly reached his eyes, has purple eyes, and is wearing a purple, long-sleeved, collared shirt with the ends of his sleeves rolled, topped with a black, buttoned vest with a long, black ribbon tied at the back, black pants, and dark purple shoes. He was lounging on the couch as he stared at the ceiling, looking bored.

Another bored person, one having short, boyish, dark red hair, golden eyes, and is wearing a red, short-sleeved T-shirt, a black, loose, unbuttoned vest, black shorts that reaches her knees, red, short socks, black shoes, and a black cap. She would have looked like a boy, if not for her feminine face, and is currently lounging around as well, playing with some wisps floating above her.

A girl was just simply reading a book, having white-colored hair tied into a waist-length ponytail, golden eyes, and is wearing a navy blue short dress with see-through, dark blue colored long sleeves having ruffles at the end. She also wears tights having the same color and material as her sleeves, and navy blue mary jane shoes with dark blue ribbons.

A boy in a nearby couch, sleeping and mumbling something about cake, has messy, black hair, red eyes, and is wearing a black jacket and cape having a white collar, black jeans with chain decorations, and black shoes.

Everything was in peace... Just them doing their own thing, until the girl who had been playing with the wisps just became far too frustrated in her boredom.

"Arrgghhh! Can't you at least play a less-sleepy tune, Rizumu?" she asked as she sat upright, glaring at the flute-playing girl, who raised an eyebrow at her and stopped playing instantly.

"Well, what kind of song do you want me to play anyway?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I dunno, just play me a rock song or something! As long as it's not as boring as the one you did earlier!" the dark red-haired girl replied, crossing her arms.

Rizumu rolled her eyes.

"Suuuuure, let me just go and play a metal song for you with this flute, why don't I?" she said using a sarcastic tone, causing anime veins to appear on the other girl's head.

The boy having black hair and purple highlights groaned in his lazy position and massaged his temples.

"Seriously, again, you two? Can't you let us have some peace and quiet for once?" he complained, frowning.

"Shaddap, Shinx! This is way too boring!" the tomboy girl retorted.

"My name is _Shion_." he corrected for the millionth time that day, getting even more annoyed by now.

"Whatever, Shinx!" she insisted on saying, frustrating the poor boy who was on the verge of pulling his hair bald.

"Now, now, Zanardi, I'm sure Alabaster would be back soon with something." the white-haired girl tried to calm her down, sweatdropping.

"That was _three_ flippin' hours before, Elysea! I'm seriously going to go and beat that old guy for once..." she grumbled, cracking her knuckles as she stomped her way towards the door.

As if on cue, the door blasted open, hitting the poor dark red-haired girl's face and threw her a few inches away from the door.

"I'm back! Sorry for making you guys wait!" an old man with muscles and a white mustache having spiky, white hair, wearing a dark blue cloak, black shirt, and dark blue pants came in through the door right before he noticed Zanardi who was holding her face, in pain. He gulped nervously and took a step back, realizing what he just did.

"U-Uh... S-Sorry, Zana...?" he said sheepishly, only receiving a glare and a fist that hit his face hard, causing him to stumble backwards in pain.

"Yeowch!"

"Stupid old man!" she shouted, about to strangle the poor guy, until she noticed that her body wouldn't move for some reason. Realizing why, she turned towards the dark blue-haired girl who was again playing the flute.

Grumbling, she walked back to her seat and sat down, knowing that she can't do anything else.

Holding his face, Alabaster stood back up again.

"Ouw, ouw, ouw, ouw... You sure punch hard, Zana! I taught you well!" he exclaimed, still laughing despite having been punched in the face by his own granddaughter.

Shion sweatdropped at his state and raised a hand to ask something.

"Uhh... Do you need some ice for your face?"

"Oh, no need, Shio! I'm fine and dandy! This kind of thing happens to me often!" Alabaster replied, laughing merrily.

At that, Shion sulked in his seat, causing Rizumu and Elysea to sweatdrop.

"Why doesn't anyone ever get my name right..?" he mumbled sadly to himself, causing even more sweatdrops.

"So... Umm... What did the headquarters say?" Rizumu decided to ask.

"Well, just about us watching out for this newly made organization near our place. Apparently, their objectives are still mysterious, so they're pretty suspicious in their eyes. Nothing too stressing, I hope." he said, grinning.

"Oh, wait. Elysea, can you wake up that guy beside you?"

Nodding, the white-haired girl promptly clapped her hands once in front of the sleeping boy's face, startling him.

"I'm up! I'm up! I swear I didn't burn the kitchen again!" he exclaimed randomly, earning puzzled looks.

Realizing that it was all just a dream, he laughed awkwardly as he scratched his cheek.

"Hahaha... Um... So... Did I miss something?" he questioned.

"Nothing too important, Akira, don't worry." Alabaster assured him, grinning. "Alright! So, they also told me to ask you guys if you have any complaints about the things done here. Do you have any?"

"The uniform." they all said simultaneously, surprising the old man.

"Why? It's cool enough, no?" he asked.

"It's obviously the color, old man. Not all of us would look good with red." Zanardi pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"My hair's freaking blue and you're expecting me to wear red?" Rizumu complained, narrowing her eyes.

"It doesn't fit me either!" Shion exclaimed, frowning.

Elysea and Akira glanced at each other before the white-haired girl shrugged.

"It's all fine to us, but the others have problems with it." Akira said, laughing.

"Well... Sorry, but they don't have any other colors for it." Alabaster said sheepishly, scratching his head.

"WHAT?!"

 **3: Prologues are done~~ :DDDDD**

 **BTW, although Cain might seem protagonist-ish, he actually isn't!~ Plus, he ain't ma OC, so~ XDDD (he's gotchapanda's! And if you guys forgot, he's the guy who 'died' in Milyana's special chap :D Yeah... So he's actually alive XD)**

 **Random note: The cotton shirt Cain wears is bought by Loque from the same cotton shirt shop he usually buys in XD #cottonshirtbuddies #slapped XwX**

 **And Cain's sword is also made by Loque owov**

 **Fun fact! The On-chan in 3's previous story has appeared! Who is... Shion, obviously XDDD #slapped XwX**

 **Guess which side is the evil one and which one is the good one... Muahahahahahahahaha XDDDDD #slapped XwX**

 **3's sure that no one would be able to figure the truth out, though... But feel free to try XDDD**

 **By the way, the only OCs I don't own here are Cain and Vince, the rest are mine XDDDDDD #slapped XwX**

 **Those two are my siblings' OC, Cain from gotchapanda and Vince from XYZ33432! XDDDD**

 **Random note! From 3's experience at writing TSOTSC, 3 has realized that 3 is... terrible at writing quiet OCs owo**

 **Cause 3 wants to give everyone at least an equal amount of screen time, but with quiet OCs... owo' IT'S DIFFICULT T^T**

 **So, here's a few words of warning/information...**

 **1.** **YOU HAVE TO READ EVERYTHING FROM THIS POINT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OC FORM BEFORE YOU SEND AN OC, OR ELSE THERE'D BE PROBLEMS OWO'**

 **2\. Prepare to see an (maybe) OOC OC of yours if you're sending a quiet one ouo #slapped XwX**

 **3 shall still do 3's best tho! *^*b**

 _ **3\. 3 will be sorting the ones who would fit which side**_ **, so feel free to submit your OC without picking a side and be surprised on where they end up :D**

 **Even if you insist on choosing one, I will still sort it, so... ouo**

 **4\. Mary-sue/Gary-stu OCs will be nerf-ed ouo**

 **5\. You can only send a maximum of 2 OCs *^***

 **6\. For this story, 3 will try using a different writing style as you can see in this chapter, so please send your OC with as much detail as possible *^*b (... It IS a different writing style, right? RIGHT? OwO)**

 **7\. OCs from the previous story can be re-sent here if you want them to join the whole series, though a few OCs from TSOTSC will still appear at some point in this story later on if they have some purpose for the plot whether their owner had re-sent their OCs or not owob**

 **I'm not telling who they are, tho ;3 #slapped XwX**

 **Alright! So... Here is the OC form XDDDD**

.

OC name:

Full/Real name (no need to write it anymore if answered :3):

Nicknames (if any are made already :D If not, imma make some up in the story anyways XD #slapped XwX):

Race:

Age (2nd):

Personality (please explain this well, in detail having examples if possible. PLEASE QWQ THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING QWQ DON'T JUST GIVE ME TWO OR THREE WORDS, PLEASEE QWQ):

Appearance (2nd only) (Please also include their heights using cms :3):

Weapon:

Ability (pretty much the summary of what their powers do. Example: shoot guns, control air, summon stuff, etc):

Class (2nd):

Skills (at least 7. Please include both melee and ranged skills if there are any. But, if they're a melee or ranged specialist, then it's okay :D Also note that this is not the game world, so please don't put things like super armor or the burn/confuse/poison/etc effects with durations D: They confuse meh w If they burn then they burn, if they get poisoned then it'll last for days *^*b #slapped XwX Lastly, no skills that works until someone dies, because they will be ignored *^* Remember, you're fighting people's OCs, not monster mobs D: HAs are still allowed, tho, but I'll only use them if the situation fits the skill owov)

(Another note: For summons, please describe what they look like and exactly what they do, don't just say "help them in fights" QwQ At least explain how they help, for example, for summons that use swords: "assist (insert OC name here) by slashing and stabbing enemies using his/her/its sword" owob)

Background (the more detailed and/or understandable, the better :D)

Other (other details, like: their likes, dislikes, habits/hobbies, favorites, personal girl/boy type preferences (I'm not kidding, put this in *^* Especially if they have/you want them to have a pairing. The pairing does not depend on this, however.), fears, morning person or not, etc etc):

Pairing (Please choose from these options by just putting the number as the answer after you read through this list~:

1- If you will personally contact the other authors to ask if their OCs can be paired together, then tell me who it is as soon as possible OwO If you didn't tell it until the last chapters of this story, it will automatically change to 2 o^o)

2- Do not want a pairing.

3- Already has a pairing. Please write who it is after the number you wrote :3

4- Want to be surprised and will just let me choose someone from the other authors' OC, as in make 3 be a matchmaker ouo

5- Want your OC to be paired with one of my OCs, either the ones in this story or the ones not even in this story ouo You can either choose and insert their name, or let me choose one for you XD

Though, 3's not sure if you can actually choose one of the OCs that 3 currently has here in this story right now, because:

1\. Cain- already has a pairing (coughcoughMilyanacoughcough) and is not my OC.

2\. Loque(?)- various reasons ouo For one, how will they even meet?! The two sides are in Elder! OAO *flips tables*

3\. En- already has a pairing.

4\. Vince- err... loves himself?/owner does not want a pairing, and is not my OC.

5\. Chess- he's ELEVEN OWO

6\. Lint(?)- has married.

7\. Nezu (an OC appearing next chap)- already has a pairing.

8\. Rizumu- already has a pairing.

9\. Zanardi- already has a pairing.

10\. Alabaster(?)- HE'S AN OLD MAN GUYS! HE'S MARRIED! WITH KIDS, AND A GRANDDAUGHTER EVEN! OUO #slapped XwX

11\. Elysea and Akira- obvious XD

12\. Shion- hm... I'm not so sure 'bout this guy, guess he's available, though he's 14 years old ouo

6- Want your OC to be in a love triangle, but the end pairing result will be a surprise owob (If the other two OCs are, however, my OCs, then I apologize in advance T^T If two of them are your OCs, then please tell me who you want the lone OC to end up with wb The rejected OC will be given another OC as a pairing if you want him/her to have one, so don't worry ;3 Who the OC is, however, will be a secret X3)

7- Your OC has already married. Congrats for your marriage! XD (?) #slapped XwX)

 _ **Note that there is no 'Reason' section in this OC form. The reason will be made by 3 based on your OC's background, so feel free to not think about that XD**_

.

Here's an example on how to fill the OC form, though 3 will use a random made-up-on-the-spot OC for this :D (also just for laughs XD) This guy won't be in the story XD

OC name: Mr. Tako-Guy

Full/Real name: Tako Octo Porshey Ferarie Endzo

Nicknames: Mr. Tako-Guy, Mr. Tako-san, Tako-man, Tako-mania, Takoko, and Takorella

Race: Human

Age: 30

Personality: A confident, free-spirited, and stubborn man with a love of art. He appreciates all the things he sees and claims that they are all beautiful, even though most people, or everyone, might find them not. He is a pacifist and prefers to just sit back and watch as life continues on as he kept doing his artist career and draw everything he sees, which, often makes him run out of paper just when he found the most beautiful of views such as rainbows to draw. His stubborn attitude is, however, a bit over the top, since once he claims that something is something, he will never change his opinion, even if he's wrong, just like the time when he claimed that the color brown is dark red and still does to this day.

"It's dark red, you idiots! DARK. RED!" he says with burning eyes.

I told you he still does!

"It's DARK REEEDDDD!"

Appearance: He has long, flowing, brown hair, green eyes, and is wearing a brown robe that covered the white shirt and black trousers he is wearing underneath, and black sneakers with white shoelaces. His brush is always kept in a pocket on his shirt. Is a tall man with a height of 192 cms.

Weapon: He does not really have a weapon, but he does bring his brush! He's a pacifist, remember?

Ability: Painting on air~

Class: Beauty Artist

Skills:

\- The Mini Brush- he whips out a smaller brush out of nowhere to paint details on his paintings he did on the air.

\- The Biggy Brush- he whips out a bigger brush out of nowhere to paint bigger drawings on the air or to color his paintings completely.

\- My Wonderful Canvas- he waves his hand up in the air to make the air a place for him to draw on.

\- The Living Ones- he draws living things professionally on the air, where they soon come out off and start to do their normal daily activities like a real living being.

\- The Not Living Ones- he draws the items on the air, where they soon fall down off and can be used like the normal thing, even for throwing purposes. Things out of glass will immediately break when they fall onto hard surface, just like the real thing~

\- The Color Pallette: (insert color name here)- the paint on his brush changes colors magically for him to use.

HA:

-Le Gasp- he somehow draws a painting he claims is a masterpiece, that starts to shine on its so-called wonderful canvas, blinding all who sees it.

Background: He is from an ordinary, art-loving family, who named him Tako because of it being their favorite food before he was born. When he was still a little boy, he had asked them what an octopus looked like, and when showed at the aquarium, became fascinated with it. At how it moves, at how it lives, everything. From the octopus, he started to see everything with fascination, thinking that everything in the world is beautiful, and dreams of painting them to eternalize their beauty and show people how beautiful the world is.

Other: - His ability to paint on air is inherited from his family.

\- He is a vegetarian.

\- He likes everything peaceful, and dislikes everything not peaceful.

\- He has no girl type preference, saying that all are beautiful in their own way.

\- He does not have any siblings.

\- He fears blood, gore, and violence.

\- He is loved by the animals, and loves the animals.

\- His favorite color is 'dark red' (brown, it's brown).

\- He is a morning person.

\- His hobby is to draw/paint.

\- He tends to never change a mistake in his drawing, and continued on in using the wrong color for the painting instead of erasing it. (Example: he accidentally used orange for the sea and kept filling the ocean drawing with that color, making it look like orange juice instead...)

\- He has a habit to turn around right before sneezing. Because of that, even if there was no one at the direction he was previously facing, he would still turn around before sneezing, which is unfortunate for those behind him :D #slapped XwX

\- Can only cook fried eggs. Literally.

Pairing: 7 (OAO)

 **Thanks for reading~**


	2. New Recruits (OCs)

Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!

3: Welcome to the second chapter of TOSOTC! XD

As expected, some OCs will be appearing in this chap! Who they are, continue reading the story XD

... I'm kinda lacking in female OCs tho, so those who wants to submit OCs please feel free to XD

If not, that's alright as well :3

Replies~

For Ars Phantasma:

Hohoho~ Long stories are good, no?~ XD

Sure! Make sure to put in detailll with the personality, tho, Azu-nii-chan :D

If I can~ Pretty busy these dayyss XwX

For The Sharkening:

Hehehehe :3 #slapped XwX

Writing this prologue ish pretty fun, soo~ :D

I DID not update until then XD #slapped for being slow XwX

Here's the next chap /

Xenny's appearing next chapter, btw :D

For Guest:

Ya must re-fill the OC form, tho, Na-chan XD

On to the story~

A teenage boy having light gray, slightly fluffy short hair and green eyes, wearing a gray, long-sleeved T-shirt topped with a white shirt, a gray, loosely tied tie, gray, long pants, and white sneakers stood against the wall of an alleyway as he listened intently to hear any footsteps coming his way. A gray knitted cap with round, mouse ears as decorations was perched on top his head, a little trademark of his.

He waited for a while, and before long a rush of angry townspeople went pass the small gap leading to him, not noticing his presence due to the darkness of the night.

Once they were gone, he looked, smirking smugly at their foolishness.

"Mann, I can't believe they actually fell for that." he said to himself, amused at how easy the whole thing was. He held a moderate-sized pouch, the sound of coins hitting against each other being audible as he moved his arm slightly.

"So that's how you work, thief, or should I say... little rat?" A feminine voice spoke with a hint of slyness in her voice, causing the teenage boy to turn himself around in reflex.

In front of him now stood a girl who is taller than him having silver hair that reaches her knees. She has red eyes which almost fades to the color white around her pupils, and is wearing a white hoodie which has a black color around the zipper and the cuffs of her sleeves. She wears trousers that reached right above her ankles, and has black stockings topped with white shoes. A bracelet is worn on each of her hands.

She, however, is not the only one there. Right beside her is a tall man having messy yet tamed white hair that is short, wearing a white tailcoat and black waistcoat with sleeves that reaches his wrists having folded, plated cuffs that reaches his elbow attached to his sleeves. He wears white trousers that is plated with black shin plates, a pair of black, square-toed shoes, and is wearing a yellow muffler around his neck.

The boy chuckled, knowing exactly who they are.

"So even the famous bounty hunters are after my head, eh? What an honor." he spoke, doing a bow towards them in a mocking way.

"Oh? So you know us. Then that'll make things easier..." the young woman smirked, stretching her right arm towards the boy as she placed her other hand on her hip, the man beside her took out his knives.

"Die." she said, shooting a laser towards him, which were suddenly deflected away instantly by the teenage boy using a pair of very, familiar knives.

The young woman's companion narrowed his eyes, realizing that the knives he had used were indeed his very own, somehow having been taken from his hands.

The boy grinned sheepishly towards them as he played with one of the knives, twirling it around with his fingers.

"There's a reason why I've never been caught after all these years, y'know?" he pointed out.

"I see. Then, physical weapons would have no effect on you." the man concluded, another pair of knives materializing in his hands.

"Exactly!"

"Which means that you're hopeless against magic." the man finished, observing for changes in the boy's expression.

Different from what they expected, the thief just smirked at them even more as he threw the knives aside.

"Well, well... It seems that you guys don't know me all too well." he commented, seemingly amused, "Did you really think that magic-specialized bounty hunters hadn't tried to hunt me down yet? Pfft, I've even lost count."

The young woman and the man raised an eyebrow, alarmed by this piece of information. But then again, they've never done any research about this target of theirs...

"So, you can use magic... Finally, an interesting battle after so long." the young woman said, smirking.

"Psssh! Who says I can use magic?" the thief grinned at their expressions of disbelief as he did an evil laugh, dashing off using inhuman speed.

"I OBVIOUSLY RUN, IDIOTS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

As his laughing quickly became inaudible due to his speed, the two blinked in confusion.

"... GET HIM!" the young woman exclaimed in annoyance.

After a while of chasing, the two found themselves at a dead end.

"That thief..! We'll get him next time!" the young woman exclaimed out of frustration, clenching her fist in front of her.

"I assure you that his death wouldn't be a nice one, My Lady." the man assured her, his eye twitching in annoyance.

As the two were about to turn around, they heard a few, light footsteps coming towards them.

Alarmed, the man quickly turned around.

"Who's there?!"

 **~At the Police's HQ~**

"Hmm... It's this place, right?" A boy mumbled to himself uncertainly as he looked up the building in front of him, a piece of paper with a poorly drawn map in his hand.

He has short, fluffy, mint-colored hair, turquoise eyes, and wears a no-sleeved light green T-shirt, white knee-length shorts, gray gloves, a blue-colored watch on his right hand, and mint-colored sneakers with white shoelaces, having an expression of a lost child.

He looked towards the paper once again, trying to decipher what all the jumbled up colorful lines mean and where this certain lone square which the place was meant to be is.

"... Better than nothing, I guess." he shrugged, shamelessly going through the door as if he owned the place.

Inside, he saw the receptionist and decided to go ask her.

"Excuse me, this is the police department of Elder, right?" he questioned, tilting his head.

The woman on the counter looked up from her paperwork and smiled.

"Yes, it is. Is there anything I can do for you?" she replied.

The boy sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness!~~ I thought I was going to be lost, againn~~" he whined, cheering up and gave something that looked like a letter towards the woman, whose eyes shone the moment she saw the signature on it.

"Oh! You're the one the chief sent to us! We've been expecting you!" the woman exclaimed energetically, shaking his hand out of the blue. "You're pretty late though. The new recruits have already arrived minutes ago. I'm guessing that they're still doing introductions in the office, so hurry along now!"

The boy looked rather surprised at hearing that.

"Ehh? Really? Weird, I thought they said that it was going to start at 12 o, clock!" he said, frowning.

"What are you talking about? This is already 12:15." the woman told him as she blinked in confusion.

"What?"

Puzzled, the boy looked at his watch, and realized that the hand of the clock hadn't moved at all after he left his home.

"... Clock! You died on me... Again!" he whined as he covered his face with his hands to sob dramatically.

The woman sweatdropped, knowing of the poor boy's infamous bad luck. He was known to be a diligent guy, but...

"Umm... Well, the office is just through this way. Turn left the moment you reach an intersection, the fourth door after that is the place." she kindly informed, hoping that her explanation was clear enough for him to not get lost and end up more late.

"Oh, I see! Thank you!~" he exclaimed cheerfully as he waved at her, walking relaxedly instead of hurrying like what the woman told him to do.

In the office, there stood Alabaster in front of his desk along with three other people in front of him. Rizumu, Zanardi, Shion, Elysea, and Akira are nowhere to be seen.

The one on the right is a girl having red hair braided to the side with a flower in it, wearing a red short kimono dress with floral patterns, black leggings, and getas. She was watching as the man delivered his speech in a very informal way, covering her mouth with a fan she held in her hand.

The one in the middle is a rather tall man having neck long, dark, spiky hair, blue eyes, and is wearing a black T-shirt, khaki pants, and black shoes. Like the other two, he was also just watching Alabaster do a speech, though he seemed to be the most relaxed out of the three.

The one on the left is a young man who is the shortest out of them all, having black neck-length hair with an hint of red color, amber eyes, and wears a red

with a hint of white (top part) and black (pants part) kamishimo with a shoulder pad on the side of his right arm along with a yellow scarf. He wears a

modern body and legs armor part for a samurai, and red and white sneakers with removeable metal parts attached to his shoes. He, different from the others, looked as if he was dozing off.

"We thank you for joining us! We could really use the help, ya know? Things have been difficult these past few days." the inspector said, laughing."I thought that there was supposed to be someone else joining us?" the samurai guy pointed out bluntly, causing Alabaster to scratch his head in a sheepish manner.

"Ermm... He's supposed to be here at the same time as you guys, but I'm guessing the chief made a map for him again even though it's not exactly a good id-"

As if on cue, the door opened, revealing the mint-haired boy. He walked inside in a relaxed pace.

"Sorry I'm late! My clock died on me!" he apologized, bowing in apology to them. His reason made the three sweatdrop and Alabaster laugh.

"Ahh, I was kind of expecting that," Alabaster commented, chuckling. "Well, the four of you should introduce yourselves to each other."

"Nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Hiromu Sakurada." The guy on the left said as he played with the sheath of his sword.

"Tough day, huh? I'm Jason Rayner. Feel free to call me Jace." The middle guy said, grinning.

"Caeldori." The girl on the right simply said, the fan still covering her mouth.

"I'm Mao Riddel! I'm looking forward to working with you guys!" the boy exclaimed, smiling.

Alabaster chuckled.

"Mao? Isn't there something else that you need to add to your statement?" he reminded. The boy blinked.

"There is? Oh! I'm bad at remembering names, so I would most likely keep asking for yours until I remember... So please bear with me." he informed them, scratching his head sheepishly.

"It's okay, I don't mind." Jason said, smiling in a friendly way.

"Neither do I." Hiromu agreed, nodding.

"I will castrate you if you do." Caeldori said with a glare, being the only one who minded.

Mao chuckled nervously.

Hiromu looked amused.

Jason widened his eyes.

Alabaster looked terrified.

"Umm... In any case, you'll be meeting with the others tomorrow. They're still on a mission today, so they aren't here." Alabaster told them, trying to change the topic.

"What mission is it, if I may ask?" Jason questioned, raising a hand.

"Well... If I'm not mistaken, Zana was told to scout our suspect, Rizumu went to buy some groceries, Shion is out on patrol, and both Elysea and Akira are tasked with today's lunch." the old man said, doing a thinking pose as he did so. Since Mao knew their names, he figured that it would be necessary to say them.

"Only two of those are legit missions, though..." Hiromu said, sweatdropping.

"What are you saying?! Shopping and cooking are needed for our daily needs!" the inspector exclaimed, crossing his arms in displeasure at his comment.

"They still shouldn't be called as missions." he replied calmly.

"... I'm still calling them that!" the old man retorted stubbornly, causing the four to look at each other and sigh.

Seconds later, they heard faint shouts.

"AKIRA! THAT'S ALCOHOL! NOT WATER!"

"IT IS?!"

"... WHY ARE YOU GETTING VINEGAR THIS TIME?!"

The five could almost hear unexistant facepalms at that moment.

"... Will today's lunch be safe?" Mao questioned, shrinking in place for fear of what they'll be having for lunch.

"Elysea's there, so it'll be safe... As long as she keeps being alert of what Akira brings..." the inspector assured, looking nervous now.

"I'm dreading lunch..." Jason commented, cringing as he tried to stop imagining the horrible things that might be added to their food.

"Can I skip it?" Hiromu questioned, fearing for his life as he took a step back.

Caeldori's face was pale as she brought the fan to cover her entire face.

Silence.

"AKIRAA! I SAID BEEF, NOT PORK!"

"BUT THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME TO ME..."

"... Maybe I should ban him from the kitchen..." Alabaster mumbled to himself.

 **~Omake~**

"There is? Oh! I'm bad at remembering names, so I would most likely keep asking for yours until I remember... So please bear with me." he informed them, scratching his head sheepishly.

"Wait, if you're bad at remembering names, then why're we told to introduce ourselves? You're the only one who hasn't." Hiromu pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"It's for the readers to know our names, apparently." Jason kindly informed them, chuckling.

"You're breaking the fourth wall." Caeldori warned, narrowing her eyes at the older man.

"Well, this omake existing is enough to break the fourth wall." he replied.

"And you broke it, again!"

 **3: Phew~ The second chapter is done~ :D**

 **I'm sorry if Mao seems to be having too much parts this chap, it's written starting from him, so... QwQ**

 **I'm still doing my best to equalize the parts! (*)/**

 **This chap is mostly concentrated on the police, while the next chap will be more focused on the organization side! :D**

 **Thanks for reading~**


	3. More New Recruits! (OCs)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: Here's chapter three! *^***

 **As I said in the second chap, this chappie will be more concentrated on the Organization side! :D**

 **Replies~**

 **For Ars Phantasma:**

 **Of course I'm still calling you that :333**

 **... FACELESS?! OWO SLENDERMAN, IS THAT YOU? OWO'**

 **Aww, why? D:**

 **For Guest:**

 **SHAMELESSS *^* *poking Hiromu* #slashed XwX**

 **Really? *evil grins* #slapped XwX**

 **I see, I see *nods to self* So Hihiro is the logical type *^***

 **For XenoVise:**

 **I got them right? Phewwwww XDDD**

 **Thank you, Visey~ (You don't mind if I call you that, right? :D) XD**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **Ehehe~ :D**

 **... Xenny's married?! When?! OAO**

 **He didn't even invite me! OwO (?)**

 **Here it is~ X3**

 **For Tetsu Kouken:**

 **So she's not OOC? I was worried that she was QwQ**

 **Lunch: TwT**

 **Akira: I'm sorrryyyy QAQ**

 **3: What last? ouo**

 **On to the story~**

 **~With the Organization side~**

 **~In the living room~**

En, Vince, Chess, and Cain are just sitting on the couches doing their own thing that day. Lint is currently away, saying that some new members had just registered to join them and will be arriving soon.

En is listening to his returned headphones, Vince is staring at himself with the mirror like always, Cain is reading a book, and Chess is... playing chess with himself. Cain noticed this and couldn't help but wonder about something.

"Hey, Chess? Don't you get bored of playing alone?" he questioned as he looked at the boy sitting in the middle of the couch, the book still being held in his hands.

Chess didn't reply as he took a black-colored knight piece and moved it to capture a white rook, placing the captured chess piece on the other side of the board away from him. He only spoke after he took a white bishop piece, looking towards Cain as he slid the piece to capture the same black knight that had taken the white rook.

"Nah, it's actually pretty challenging." he said, smiling as he took the black knight to his side of the board and returned to having a straight face as he took a black pawn to take a step forward on the board.

"How come?" the black-haired young man asked, curious.

"Cause... It just is?" the boy answered back, grinning sheepishly as he held the white queen piece and slid it to capture a black bishop before putting it on his side of the field.

Cain could only look at him in wonder before his eyes turned to the chess board, seeing that the two sides are on par with each other. He suddenly found watching Chess play chess more interesting than reading his book and sat down in a much more comfortable position to watch the lone match.

Both En and Vince noticed this and turned to look at the match as well, before Vince did a dramatic gasp.

"This..! How could this be..?! Such... Such professionalism! I can't believe that I was able to see such a thing in my lifetime!" he exclaimed in awe, his hand covering his mouth as he took a step back in dramatic shock.

All three of them looked at him with a strange look.

"Um... What's so professional about this?" Chess asked, pointing towards the chess board with a confused expression.

"How can you not see it?! You're the one playing! See?! The pieces! They're all in perfect harmony! Look at the positions they're all in! The lighting, the patterns, the alignment! SEE?!" Vince shouted as he pointed at each of the chess pieces still on the board, staring at the three of them incredulously as he did so.

Cain and Chess returned similar looks at him, although theirs were more on the are-you-insane ones.

En leaned forward to observe the chess board with narrowed eyes, his hands being put on his waist.

"Hmm... I don't see anything eye-catching..." he commented, doing a thinking pose with his left hand.

"You still can't see this masterpiece?! Look! Look at this pawn right here, then see that knight over there! Notice the positions they're all in?!" Vince told him as he jerked his finger to point at the pieces.

A second passed before a look of shock made its way on the dark red-haired boy as his mouth slowly went wide in a gasp.

"AHHHH! You're right! How is this possible?!" he shouted, taking a step back in the same dramatic fashion.

"See?! I told you!"

"What?! What is it with the chess board?! What did you guys see?!" Chess asked in an overly-curious manner as he stood from his seat and placed his palms on the table near the board. He did the same expression as En the moment he looked at the board from above, except that his eyes are sparkling.

"S-SO COOLLL! I made this?! I really made this?!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, hopping in place like the little child he is.

Meanwhile, Cain could only sweatdrop. Before he was able to say anything, however, the door opened.

"What in the world is with all this racket?" Lint questioned with his eyes narrowed at them, his hand on the door handle. A group of people are standing right behind him, some having curious eyes at the four.

Two of them were the bounty hunters. The girl looked as if she would rather be somewhere else, dozing off, while the man looked indifferent.

In front of the two is a spiky, dark brown-haired man with a single bang of hair hanging from the middle of his hairline to the tip of his nose having golden eyes. He wears a red and silver headband, saying 'XEN', with the straps hanging to the back of his waist, a short sleeved, silver jacket closed from his belt to his chest with orange rims and a dark, popped up collar, reaching just above his knees. Wears a white button up under the coat, a dark red, under armour shirt underneath, a simple red wristband on his right wrist, dark gray cargo pants that stop below his knees that were tucked under the bandage wrap around his shins, and simple, black, comfortable shoes with no sort of abstract design. He also has a sash tied around his waist over his coat.

The man looked curious as to what the three were being so hyped about, but didn't say anything due to the situation and just stood there.

A boy having brown, neck-length hair with long bangs that nearly reached his amber eyes, wearing a long-sleeved, black hooded jacket with the hood on, black pants, and dark brown sneakers having black soles tied with black shoelaces was next to him, leaning lazily on his side as he rested his head against the door.

A girl who seemed to be from the elf race stood at the other side of the spiky-haired man, having pale white hair in a low ponytail that reaches her hips, light blue eyes, and is wearing a knee-length black pleated dress, black arm-length cape with white lace decorations and a high collar, black lace long gloves, sheer black stockings and white mary jane shoes. She held her hands behind her as she observed the place, mostly at the four people inside the room.

A rather tall man stood at the right side of the male bounty hunter, having short layered red wavy hair, black eyes, and is wearing a white, short-sleeved T-shirt, sky blue trousers, and black shoes tied with white shoelaces. He was trying to not laugh at the comedic scene as he covered his mouth with his hand, especially at seeing En and Chess' priceless expressions right now.

A girl who stood beside the female bounty hunter is shuffling a deck of cards in her hands. She has long, purplish-black hair that flows freely down her with clips shaped like two dark red arrows that kept her hair pinned. She wears a black, pink, and brown sleeveless dress with a small collar that splits into the dress, a white undershirt with x's that went down it, black shorts with lavender at the edge, long socks with dark red and pink stripes, brown boots with a red buckle, long, puffy sleeves held up by a ribbon starting at halfway down her upper arm, and has a red belt shaped like a line with two arrows that overlap which currently holds three deck of cards, the fourth one being in her hands.

As if having their hands being caught inside the cookie jar, both En and Chess laughed awkwardly as they scratched their heads.

The dark brown-haired man sighed in exasperation, motioning towards the group of people to enter with an expression that seemed to be the mix of tiredness and frustration.

Most of the group sweatdropped as they did what he gestured for them to do, sitting on the couches provided that were luckily enough to fit all of them. The male bounty hunter had to crouch down to enter, having around twice the height of any of them.

Once they were all seated, Lint went to sit down at his seat, but the moment he sat down, he noticed something.

"Strange... Weren't there supposed to be eight of you? Where is the other one?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Ehh? Wasn't that guy here just a moment ago?" the red-haired man asked out loud as he turned his head around as if to search for the eighth person.

A card from the purplish-black haired girl's deck magically floated towards her.

"He's lost." she simply told them, taking the floating card and re-shuffled her deck using her hands.

Lint massaged his temples.

"How in the world did he... We were just walking in a GROUP." he said, frustrated beyond belief.

"Eyy, you need to relax a little, Sir Lint! It's not like anything bad would happen!" En exclaimed, laughing.

"I hope you're not jinxing that~" the spiky-haired man said with a smirk.

"Don't say that!"

Lint sighed.

"In any case, we'll just start the introductions, starting from him." he said, pointing towards the red-haired man sitting next to the male bounty hunter.

"Me? I'm Nex Ageto! Nice to meet 'cha!" he exclaimed, grinning towards them all as he did a peace sign.

"My name is Helios. That's the only thing you humans need to know about me." the male bounty hunter said, looking unimpressed.

"Amane Cyber. Now can I go to my room?" The female bounty hunter said with a bored expression, resting her head on her palm as she sat with her leg being placed on top of the other.

"Man, you guys are boring." Nex commented as he shot strange looks towards them, which they ignored.

"Alice." the girl with the cards simply told them as she took one of the cards that are now floating around her and shuffled it into the deck in her hands.

"Xen Adreal here. Hope you guys won't get my and Nex's names mixed up." the spiky-haired man tried to joke as he laughed. Sadly, only En had joined in on his laughter.

"Hehe, hopefully not, Nex. I am Yucca ReVyllea, by the way." the white-haired elf said, playing along with Xen's joke as she smirked.

"Oooh! Nice come-back!" Xen commented, grinning.

They looked towards the hooded boy who had been quiet all this time, some with expectant looks. Noticing that, the boy consciously covered himself more with his hood.

"All I could remember about my name... Is being called Thirteen..." he spoke softly.

Yucca did a thinking pose when she heard him say this.

' _Amnesia perhaps...?_ ' she wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Nice to meet you guys! I'm Chess!" Chess exclaimed cheerfully, going over to shake each of their hands, although this gesture of his was rejected by some of them, causing him to sulk in a corner once he finished.

Most of them sweatdropped.

"Err... Well... I'm En! S'up?~" En said as he grinned, waving a hand towards them.

"I'm Cain. Hope we get along." Cain said as he smiled.

As for Vince...

"Ladies and gentlemen... Fate must have gathered us all here! I am the meaning of life, beauty, hope, and the wishes of man, Vince Vivienne von D'Light, at your service!~" Vince exclaimed as he walked gracefully towards them and did a kneeling pose, dramatically presenting a bouquet of roses he got out of nowhere to the new members.

The cricket orchestra returned.

Everyone was speechless, not knowing of what to say to the... creative man.

Lint coughed a few times to re-compose himself.

"Uh... Thank you... Just... Please, for all our sakes, go back to your seat." he told the sparkling man.

Vince threw the bouquet upwards where it exploded into rose petals that floated down beautifully towards the floor and did his usual flicking of hair before sitting down elegantly.

"Now... Your codenames shall be..." the dark brown-haired man mumbled as he did a thinking position for a while, then pointed towards Nex.

"Your codename will be Gambler."

"What?" Nex blinked, "How do you know I gam-"

"Your codename," Lint continued as he pointed at Helios, ignoring poor Nex, "Is Knife."

"Such original naming skills." Helios commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Yours is Cyber." he continued, pointing towards Amane, who raised an eyebrow at the codename.

"Isn't that my-"

"Your codename is Brawler." Lint said towards Xen, causing anime veins to appear on Amane's head and for Helios to glare daggers at him, which he ignored.

Xen merely nodded in understanding, just accepting his codename then and there.

"Yours will be Vine." he said, pointing towards Yucca.

"Very well." she said, mostly to herself as she nodded.

"Your codename shall be Seer." the formal man said, pointing towards Alice, who didn't reply anything and just stared at him.

"Yours..." Lint paused when he pointed at the hooded boy, "... Thirteen is good enough."

"Hey! We got the same fate!" Chess exclaimed as he waved a hand enthusiastically. Thirteen only replied with a tilt of his head, obviously confused.

"As you can see, Chess' codename is... Well, as he had just implied, Chess. En is Rock, Cain is Spirit, and Mister Vince is Imbecile." Lint informed them, causing some of them to sweatdrop at the last part.

"Although I would prefer it if you call me Cile~" Vince added with a flick of his hair.

"I have no comment." Nex admitted, sweatdropping.

"Neither do I," Xen agreed, sweatdropping, "And I'm usually able to make jokes! That says something!"

"Why are we in a group full of imbeciles?" Helios asked, seemingly to Amane as he massaged his temples in pure frustration.

"You mean a group full of Vince?" Xen joked, grinning.

"Yeah... A room full of Vinces would be pretty interesting." Yucca remarked, chuckling.

Helios rolled his eyes at them.

Nex did a thinking position before his face turned pale rather quickly.

"Nope, nope! That's too horrorsome!" he said and quickly erased the thought from his mind, waving his hands furiously in front of his head.

"Idiots." Alice scoffed, returning back to seeing fortunes with her floating cards.

Amane sighed, unimpressed.

Thirteen stared blankly.

Lint was about to blow the building off.

Chess blinked once, then twice.

En kept on laughing.

Cain sweatdropped.

Vince was sparkling.

All was silent.

 **INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! WARNING, CODE: ORANGE! INTRUDER INSIDE SECTOR C! INTRUDER INSIDE SECTOR C!**

The alarms rang off, alarming them all.

"An intruder?! How?!" Lint exclaimed, narrowing his eyes and immediately stood up, followed up by the others.

"CAAATCCHH THEEMMM!" Xen shouted, dashing off first.

As they ran, Cain realized something.

"Wait! Where is Sector C supposed to be?!" he asked, shouting.

"... WE'LL KNOW WHEN WE SEE 'EM, RIGHT?" Xen replied.

"Are you serious?!"

Meanwhile, Lint, who they left behind, sighed in complete frustration and took a deep breath.

 **"IDIOTS! SECTOR C IS ON THE RIGHT, NOT LEFT!"** he yelled with an amazingly loud voice, causing them to freeze for a moment before turning to the opposite direction of where they were going, and resumed their run.

"WE'RE SORRYYY!" Nex shouted as they passed him.

"Stupid." Alice said, rolling her eyes as she walked in a relaxed pace along with Amane and Helios.

Thirteen is still inside the room, taking a few more seconds to process all that happened before he blinked.

 **3: Chapter 3 ish done~ XD**

 **Sorry for the suckish chappy guys QwQ**

 **Been busy with school... And homeworks T^T**

 **MUCH HOMEWORKS QWQ**

 **WHYYYY TAT *sulks***

 **Welp! Next chap will be when they'll chase after this intruder! :D And is when the new members of the Police side appear! *^*/**

 **However, to be fair, I shall first update the Three Leaf Clover story! :D**

 **Look forward to it... *wears a pair of shining black glasses*(?) *^***

 **Thanks for reading~**


	4. Intruder Alert

**Disclaimer: 3 doesn't own Elsword nor the OCs 3 doesn't own!**

 **3: I'm finally baacckkkk XDDD**

 **Sorry for the late update... I was concentrating on them exams for the days I've been away from fanfiction QwQ**

 **I've finished two, the School Exams and Practical Exams... BUT I STILL HAVE FREAKING NATIONAL AND THE "SECOND" SCHOOL EXAMS QAQ**

 **SAVE ME QWQ #slapped XwX**

 **Here's a long chapter to (hopefully) make up for it :D**

 **Replies~**

 **For Risingwind:**

 **Hehe~ Maybe?~ Let's see since it depends on my brain~ XD #slapped XwX**

 **You do? Phew! I was pretty worried QwQ**

 **Now I'm worried for THIS chapter and the next ones QwQ**

 **That's okay, Rising-chan! At least you didn't forget in this chap?~ :D**

 **But he's epic-er than Richian! You'll see XD**

 **For XenoVise:**

 **Ya know, that actually seems interesting XD**

 **Dunno when to put that scene, though... Hopefully my brain can figure it out *^*/**

 **Thank you~ X333**

 **Alrighty then, Visey! :D**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **Thank you~ XDDD**

 **Which part was it? I'm curious :DDD**

 **Hm... Perhaps I shouldn't do the number system next time if I'm gonna make another OC story..? ouo**

 **For Kazama Shirosawa:**

 **So your face would be severed?! OwO**

 **What kind of mask is that?! OAO**

 **Intruder alerttt~ XDDD**

 **For Arivellon Avelion Zeed:**

 **Replied in PM~ :3**

 **On to the story~**

 **INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! WARNING, CODE: ORANGE! INTRUDER INSIDE SECTOR C! INTRUDER INSIDE SECTOR C!**

"Argghhh, alarms. How annoying." Zanardi commented, glaring towards the blinking sirene with her hands on her hips.

"Now where was I..? Sector C was it? Could they all be in Sector A, then..?" she mumbled to herself as she walked, observing the place. She noticed that all the doors were closed, and that the place has plenty of intersections that could confuse anyone who's unlucky enough to be lost in it. She kept walking in a straight line, however, ignoring all the other paths.

"Hey."

The short-haired girl felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, startling her to turn around quickly and glare at the person behind her, who turned out to be the light gray-haired boy.

Remembering her grandfather's words to act casually, she composed herself.

"Oh, sorry! I thought you were a guy!" he exclaimed in a panicked way, raising both of his hands.

"That's fine. Everyone does at some point." she replied, dusting her shoulder with a hand. Nezu felt insulted for a second.

"So? Why are you here? And who are you?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Eyy, I'm not the intruder in case you're wondering. Name's Nezu. Nezu Zumine. You can check for it at the administrator if you don't believe me. I'm just a typical lost new guy!"

Zanardi raised an eyebrow.

 _'Strange... Where have I heard that name before..?'_ she thought.

"What about you? Are you sure _you're_ not the intruder instead?" Nezu asked, having a suspicious expression.

The police member rolled her eyes at him to make her seem believable.

"... October. That's my name." she lied.

Silently, she cursed herself for not choosing a better name.

Nezu blinked. Once, then twice, and then he burst out laughing.

"O-October?! Of all months?! Are you freaking serious?!" he exclaimed mid-laugh as he clutched his stomach in pain.

"Say something else, and I _will_ castrate you." Zanardi growled with her fist raised up, but her threat did little to stop him.

In the end she snapped and directed a punch towards the thief, which he dodged to the side before raising both his hands up, chuckling.

"Alright, alright. Sorry. Is that really your name, though? _Halloween Lady_?" he mocked with a challenging grin.

"Shouldn't you be going by now?" Zanardi questioned, her eye twitching in annoyance. She was _this_ close to punching him in the face so hard that it'll be deformed.

"Ah, true. I really should. See you soon, I assume?" he said, grinning before turning away to walk towards the opposite direction.

The dark red-haired girl shook her head in mild disbelief at how gullible he was and continued to walk forward.

"Weirdo." she mumbled under her breath.

Minutes later, Nezu finally reunited with the rest of his group mates.

"Ah! Hey, guys! Sorry for being late." he greeted them, grinning sheepishly as he waved a hand. Lint rolled his eyes at his act.

"Forget that. Have you seen anyone suspicious looking while you were... Well, lost?" the man questioned, crossing his arms.

"Hm... Nope. I don't think so. I _did_ meet this weird girl who said her name is October just a..." he paused, blinking when he saw the director trembling in what seemed to be fury.

"You idiot... THAT _IS_ THE INTRUDER!" he practically screeched, glaring daggers at the light gray-haired boy who widened his eyes.

"Eh?!" Nezu looked taken aback.

"No one's named October here, Mister." Yucca informed, having an amused expression.

"There isn't?" Nex actually looked surprised, blinking at hearing the fact.

"Well, we can always have someone change their name into October just to have one named that." Xen joked, grinning.

Cue the cricket orchestra(?).

Alice sighed, wondering why exactly did she even join this... group... in the first place.

"You've cleared any doubts from my mind that you're nothing but an idiot." Helios deadpanned. Amane yawned, sleepiness starting to get to her.

"Can we just get this over with?" she questioned, rubbing her eye.

"Lady Amane, rubbing your eye is not a good thing to do." her butler warned, frowning. She pouted slightly.

"Well, maybe we should split up if we want to solve this faster?" Cain suggested, raising a hand.

"Sounds good to me! I call dibs on the straight path!" En exclaimed, grinning mischievously.

"Not fair! I want to go there too!" Chess complained, glaring at the dark red-haired boy.

"We will split into four groups equally, because there are only _four_ paths. No need to fight over such a trivial thing as this." Lint scolded lightly at them, rolling his eyes.

"Alrighty! So, Chess and I will be a group! Anyone else wants to join the party?" En suddenly rested his arm on the boy's head, causing Chess to yell incoherent words of help as he kept being squished to the ground.

Lint narrowed his eyes when only Xen raised a hand, jumping repeatedly as he did so. Two idiots and a kid being in the same group isn't very reassuring. What if they infected their idiocy on the poor child?

"Cain, you join them." he told the black-haired young man as he pointed at the two.

Cain merely nodded, being neutral in the whole situation. It's a good thing they're people he's more familiar of, though.

"Aw... Why can't I?" Xen whined, only receiving a poker-faced stare. "Fine! I'll go left! Who's going with me?"

"Me, me! I'll join!" Nex raised a hand, grinning. He preferred the left path after all.

Lint forced himself not to facepalm.

"... Alice, you join them." he said, gesturing to the two.

Alice sighed in defeat and nodded, going towards the two at the left path.

The two boys gulped nervously at her cold yet calculating stare, as if watching for any movements they'll make.

"Don't you dare do anything stupid." she threatened, glaring. The two nodded quickly.

"They make a good team." Yucca commented, nodding wisely to herself as she earned strange looks.

Lint paused for a moment to decide the last teams. Only Vince, Nezu, Amane, Helios, and Yucca are left, and it was obvious that separating Amane and Helios into different groups wouldn't end well.

... This might not be a good idea, but he honestly doesn't want to be stuck with a certain person, so...

"Vince, Amane, and Helios, you three go right. Nezu and Yucca, you're with me." he said, earning deathglares from Amane and Helios.

" _Amigos_!~ We shall be a magnifico team!~ Would you accept these flowers as a sign of friendship?~" Vince spoke in a sing-sang voice as he presented two bouquets of flowers to the two.

Amane shot a laser to her bouquet, disintegrating it, while Helios threw his at the sparkling man's face.

Vince gasped the moment the bouquet fell from his face. He clutched his heart dramatically at a corner.

"The flowers are innocent..! My _kokoro_ can't take this treatment towards them!" he sobbed, covering his face with his hands. En patted the poor guy on his shoulder.

"There, there..."

Yucca frowned. Poor, poor Vince.

Nezu sighed in relief at the team he got.

"As not amusing as your performances are, you're wasting your time with each second you stay here." Lint pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, right! LAST ONE TO CATCH THE INTRUDER IS A ROTTEN EGG!" En yelled, laughing as he dashed off.

"NO WAY MAN!" Xen yelled back, dashing off immediately, followed by Nex.

Alice gave out a sigh of frustration, her cards forming into a floating chair. She sat on it before it started to speed up towards the two.

Chess and Cain blinked at each other before they started to dash after the dark red-haired boy.

"WAIT FOR USSS!" Chess yelled.

Vince shook his head.

"Young ones these days... They don't know how to appreciate life." He turned towards his two team members and gestured towards their chosen path, sparkling elegantly as he did so with a serious expression. "Come! Let us make our way!~ We shall enjoy the beauty of life as we do so!"

Amane and Helios looked at each other before staring at him in what seems to be a mixture of mild horror and incredulity, but started walking when he did so anyways, keeping a safe distance of three meters.

"Ahhh~ Look at how beautiful the cream color on the ceiling is~ The blinding brightness of the lights~ The fresh, cold bree- Ouw!"

Lint rolled his eyes at the three groups.

"Hey, Mister Lint? Why don't we go pick up Thirteen?" Yucca told him, glancing at the path they were supposed to take.

The brown-haired man and light gray-haired thief looked blank for a few seconds, then glanced at each other, and finally stared at the albino elf.

"Who?" Nezu questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Thir- Oh, right... You weren't there during the introductions. Perfect timing, then. Let's go get him." Lint remembered before he started to walk back towards the office.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. His name _is_ Thirteen?!"

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Hatsyii!" Thirteen sneezed, keeping hold of the book he had just been reading with his left hand while the other went to cover his nose in reflex.

He was still inside the office just like the group predicted, sitting on the couch as he read.

 **~With En, Chess, and Cain~**

The three finally slowed down and started walking in a relaxed pace through their path. En was whistling with his hands behind his head, Chess seemed to be trying to remember something, and Cain looked somehow confused.

"Um... Guys? Did they ever tell us what this intruder looked like..?" Cain asked, facing towards his two, younger teammates.

Chess immediately gasped dramatically and pointed a finger at the black-haired young man.

"That's it! That was what I was trying to remember!" he exclaimed, earning a look of disbelief from Cain.

"Her name's October, right? Then we'll just go look for someone who's named that!" En shallowly said with a grin. Cain sweatdropped.

"I don't think that's a goo-"

"Then we should ask around!" Chess surprisingly followed along, excited to find the intruder.

Soon, the three reached another four-way intersection, giving En a 'great' idea.

"The one who finds her first gets to be treated for lunch?" he suggested, an evil smirk being plastered on his face. Chess grinned.

"You're on!"

"Um... Guys? Aren't we supposed to-"

Ignoring Cain, the two dashed off in separate ways. En left, while Chess went right.

Cain blinked, sighing before he decided to follow along with their plan and kept walking forwards.

 **~With Nex, Xen, and Alice~**

Alice was still going after the two young men who went on their own until she heard a rather girlish scream, followed by hysterical laughter. This alarmed her, and she was even more surprised when Nex suddenly ran back and hid behind her, or more specifically, her chair.

"Did you have to react that badly, Nex? It's just a person!" Xen exclaimed as he looked back at them, having an incredulous expression at the red-haired man who blushed lightly in embarrassment.

"Yeah, a person who just went _through_ the wall!" Nex retorted in defense, pointing harshly towards the short-haired girl who was clutching her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably.

Xen mumbled something that sounds suspiciously like, "Magic."

"Man, you're such a scaredy-cat!" Zanardi mocked, causing Nex to snap at her.

"Am not!" he shouted, glaring.

"A-"

"Nex's stupid fear aside, are you 'October'?" Alice interrupted before the two could start an 'am not' and 'am too' fight, earning a glare from the red head.

Zanardi blinked, then she smirked as she realized the situation at hand.

"I get it. You guys are friends with that failed cosplayer, aren't you?" she questioned, the smirk not leaving her.

"I believe the word 'acquaintance' is more likely." Alice corrected, though she was curious on what she meant by failed cosplayer. Did he even cosplay as anything?

"What do you mean by failed cosplayer, huh?!" Xen demanded, stomping his foot forward in anger.

Nex looked blank for a few seconds, then he quickly turned around and closed his mouth with his hand in an attempt to stiffle his laughter.

Different from the two, it seems that he actually understood what she meant.

"In any case, it seems that you are indeed this 'October' person." Alice concluded.

"And?" Zanardi asked, looking bored.

"We'll capture you this instant, that's what." Xen growled.

The dark red-haired girl snickered, taking a few steps backwards before her feet started to rise to the air, alarming the three.

"I'd like to see you try~" she taunted and flew through the windows.

Xen and Alice both stared blankly at the window, while Nex was still struggling not to laugh.

 **~With Amane, Helios, and Vince~**

"Wonderful sunlight~ Tonight shall display a beautiful moon~ Oh, look! The pretty flowers~" Vince said in a sing-sang voice, pointing towards the field of flowers outside the window as they were starting to walk towards the staircase, "Speaking of flowers, they're innocent! How dare you people do something so evil towards the-"

Vince suddenly tripped while he was going down the stairs, tumbling down before hitting the ground face-first with a dull thud. Blood splattered out, both from his head and from his face because of the impact, and filled the floor around him with its bright, red color. His clothes started to turn red from absorbing the blood.

Needless to say, both Amane and Helios were shocked by this sudden event. They glanced at each other, hoping that it was all just a dream.

The butler went over to Vince, or his corpse rather, and poked his sides. He earned no reaction.

"He's dead." he confirmed, rather perplexed by this outcome.

"You sure?" Amane asked anxiously as she stared at the corpse of their teammate. This was just all too sudden. What should they tell the others? That he fell down the stairs and died?

Suddenly, a bright light that looked like a star flashed in the sky. It stayed there for a moment, then it started becoming bigger as each second passed.

The two bounty hunters saw this and were alarmed.

"A star? It's not even dark yet." Amane narrowed her eyes.

"No... It's-" Helios paused, the so-called star shooting down towards the ground near the building in light speed, causing the building to shake heavily.

Amane lost her balance and fell down, while Helios was struggling to keep himself on his feet.

Screams were heard everywhere, both from the other members and the other staffs or officers there.

 **~With En, Chess, and Cain~**

The three had reunited in the lobby, where they struggled against the sudden quake that happened throughout the building.

Chess was frantically waving his arms in an effort to remain balanced as he again, shouted incoherent words of help.

"YOU CALL THIS INCOHERENT?! I AM SPEAKING CLEARLY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! SAVE OUR SOULLLLS!" he screamed, effectively breaking the fourth wall.

"Ahhhahhaaahhhhaahhahahahahahahahhhaahha!~ T-T-Th-This i-is f-f-f-fun!~" En laughed, his words shaking due to being shaken in his sleeping position on the floor, having fallen down immediately when it had started.

"Will this b-building be o-o-k-k-kay?! It's not g-g-gonna b-br-break d-down is it?! We're not even a-anywhere close t-t-to t-the exit!" Cain shouted in worry as he hid beneath the table, a much more sensible action than the other two.

 **~With Nex, Xen, and Alice~**

Alice was safe from the shaking since she was still sitting on her floating chair, but was still rather alarmed by how terrifyingly the building shook, shown by the items shaking extremely around them.

"... This earthquake must at least have a magnitude of 11..." she commented and looked towards the ceiling, relieved that it showed no signs of falling down whatsoever.

"Hey, at least we're not quacking along in this quake, are w-" Poor Xen accidentally bit on his tongue and started shouting various colorful words.

Nex chuckled at that, but his chuckles sounded like a gargle due to the shaking, forcing him to stop in embarrassment.

 **~With Lint, Nezu, and Yucca~**

The three had reunited with Thirteen, who upon standing up was forcefully made to sit down again by the earthquake.

"What in t-tar-tarnation is going on?!" Lint shouted, balancing himself by holding the couch.

"Tar-tar nation?" Yucca asked innocently as she leaned against the wall, somehow not stuttering like everyone else.

"T-T-TAR-TAR NATION!" Nezu burst out laughing, causing him to lose his grip on the door's handle and fall down, rolling on the ground in his laughter.

"I d-don't g-g-get it." Thirteen said, looking back towards the three from his seat.

"You d-don't ha-v-ve t-to." Lint told him with rolled eyes, while Nezu's shaky laughs continued to reverberate in the room.

"H-HE ACTUALLY S-S-SAID T-TAR-TAR N-NATION!"

 **~With Amane and Helios~**

Within a few more seconds, the quake finally stopped.

Helios sighed and lent a hand towards Amane before helping her up, making sure that she had stood on her feet properly before letting go of her hand and looked out the window.

A crater was formed where the meteor had fallen, smoke surrounding the area from their sights.

"... That's a... huge meteorite." he commented in mild amusement.

Amane went over to see and looked just as amused.

"I'm surprised this place hadn't exploded by now." she remarked.

"What's exploding is my heart! My _kokoro_!~ How could you two forget me so easily?!" An eeriely familiar voice whined, causing the two to immediately turn around in disbelief. In front of them stood Vince with all his sparkling, teary-eyed glory as he dramatically clutched his chest to prove his point.

They were speechless.

"... Shouldn't you be... _dead_?" Amane asked with an incredulous expression, pointing a finger at him.

"Indeed I was~ I got to meet my old friend, Mr. Cappy!" he exclaimed happily as he clasped his hands together. A flowery aura surrounded him, making Helios cringe.

"Mr. Cappy?" the silver-haired girl questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You know~ That guy who manages the dead or something~ Mr. Cappy!" he explains, smiling brightly.

Amane blinks.

"... (insert your chosen god of death's name here)?" she asks.

"Yeah! That's him! How did you know him?" he inquired excitedly.

"... I don't think we should continue this nonsense. Anyways, we still haven't found the intruder have we?" Helios said, changing the topic.

"Perhaps other groups-" Amane paused. A ringing sound came from her phone.

She picked it up and placed it against her ear.

"Hello?"

 _"Did you meet the intruder?"_ Lint asked from the other side.

"Nope."

 _"I see. Well, we should regroup in the living room. Apparently, Xen's group had found her, but she escaped. She's not here anymore."_

With that, he hung up.

 **3: Done~ XDDD**

 **As you can see, this chapter is fully concentrated on the Organization side except for Zanardi, so the next chapter will be fully focused on the Police side and Zana-chan won't appear so much XD**

 **And I'm sure that you've noticed that the Organization side has been having more screen time than the Police, but never fear! The Police will be having much screen time in later chapters! It could be in the next chapter or the much later chapters, but I will do my best to keep them balanced *^*b**

 **As for Vince's... resurrection(?), he's the only immortal(?) OC here since he's a harmless, trolling OC owob #slapped XwX**

 **The rest of the newly submitted OCs will be appearing in the next chapter or the next two chapters, so don't worry if your OC hasn't appeared yet :3**

 **I was confused on how to insert them here, so I didn't owoa**

 **Thanks for reading~**


	5. Just Another Day at the Police HQ (OCs)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: I'm back with another chapter! :D**

 **Since I have a two-day holiday, I can type the story freely XD**

 **Tomorrow will have another update as well, though it probably won't be too long of a chapter ouo It's a special chap for pure humor *^* Unfortunately, only En, Chess, Cain, Vince, and Lint would be in it, since it happened before the others joined owo**

 **If you want pure humor, feel free to read it :D (It's a special chap for Vince's owner, XYZ33432 XD)**

 **This chapter is completely focused on the Police side, and we have more new OCs XD :D**

 **Replies~**

 **For Guest/Risingwind:**

 **Hehe~ I thought that it would be cool for her floating chair to be able to move XDDD**

 **Well, now it is :D**

 **She flew, actually XD**

 **Ehehehehe :3**

 **I did~ AND I HAVE UPDATED AGAIN! WITH A LONG CHAP! \\(*^*)/**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **It is? Phew~ :D**

 **I see, I see *nods wisely* Wait, you wouldn't? Owo**

 **Don't worry, here's the next chapter~ A long one! XD**

 **Hopefully this one's fluff will make you smile too :3**

 **Thank you~ XD**

 **For XenoVise:**

 **Mr. Cappy indeed XD**

 **Vince does XDDD**

 **What? What font is it? *^***

 **Thank you~ Here's another chappy~ :D**

 **For Kazama Shirosawa:**

 **Here they are~ :D**

 **Hopefully they're not OOC? Cuz to be honest...**

 **I don't understand Julius' personality owo #slapped XwX**

 **Thomas is so random XD Why'd he say that? XD**

 **On to the story~**

 **~With the Police Side~**

Zanardi flew directly to the office, passing through some walls as she did so. To the staff, this was already a normal sight, so they didn't even look twice, but most of the newer members nearly had a heart attack the moment she landed near them.

Eye twitching, Rizumu went to smack some sense into the short-haired girl, who immediately winced and shot a terrifying glare at her.

"What gives, Blue-head?!" Zanardi snarled.

"Can't you use the door like a normal person when you come in? What if someone here has a heart problem?!" the blue-haired girl scolded, glaring at her back.

The short-haired girl's eye kept twitching, but she turned around instead of saying anything.

"Whatever. I'm too tired for this. Keep your babblings for some other time." she said before flying up the stairs and into her room, leaving a very displeased Rizumu.

Alabaster sighed at his granddaughter's actions and turned to the other members.

"In any case, we have more people joining us today. I guess you can call them the second wave... Or batch." he said, grinning as if he just did a brilliant joke, to which everyone just stared pokerfacedly at. The inspector coughed embarrassedly, all the while wondering why they couldn't understand such a fine joke.

"Come in." he said, opening the door to let six people enter the room. "Well, one of us is not here right now, but... Introduce yourselves!"

"S'up? My name's pretty long, so you can just call me Julius." A man having white-hair tied into a short ponytail and cardinal eyes said. He wore a long-sleeved, black turtleneck tight shirt topped with a black cape with white strips, and black trousers.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Selena, his wife. You can call me Sierra!" A young woman having long, silver hair, and azure eyes cheerfully said as she bowed. She wore a silver gown and skin-colored gloves, a white skirt, white stockings, and white mary jane shoes.

"Why is your nickname Sierra when your name is Selena?" Hiromu questioned as he raised an eyebrow. The silver-haired woman laughed awkwardly as she scratched her cheek.

"I wonder..." she said.

"Cross." A tall young man having medium, messy, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes simply told them. He wore a black hoodie topped with a kevlar vest, olive cargo pants, and black work boots.

"My name is Alisa Heartburn. I hope we'll get along!" A young woman having long, wavy, dark brown hair, and dark green eyes said with a friendly smile. She wore a dark blue shirt and black sweater, and dark blue pants.

"I-I'm Miki." A light blue-haired girl said. She wore a white-colored V-neck shirt, shorts, and a metallic armor that shows her midriff, and wears a band around her neck, and something that looked like a nasod core was in the same place, making it look like a necklace. If one would look closely, however, it is not, since the core seemed to be stuck halfway through her skin instead of hanging out of it like a necklace.

"I'm W-We-Weiss..." A frail, short, and pale looking kid said shyly. The boy has wavy black hair that reaches his hips, which is styled in a low single braid tied by a golden thin bow, his messy bangs a tad too long as his salmon pink eyes peeks through. He wears a cream dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, intricately decorated gold buttons lined the shirt and a red and green checkered bow neatly tied around his collar, his shirt tucked messily in his black knee-length dress pants, and a pair of cream socks a few inches longer than his black ankle length military boots.

"Please don't mistake me as a girl..." he says as he looks up, a somehow subtle, annoyed expression on his face. "I don't like that.." His right hand fiddled with the rolled up sleeves on his left arm as he looked away.

His eyes traveled down to the floor slowly as he noticed that everyone in the room was looking at him. His mind was filled with all sorts of replays of what he could have said or done for his introduction. The thought of it embarassed him, how he was unable to speak clearly, how his voice squeaked, and how he stuttered on his own name. His face flushed red as he shook it twice.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very good with these kinds of things.." he covers his face with his hands, feeling the heat travel to his ears as he blushed even more.

"Aw, don't worry kid. You're not the only one!" Alabaster replied, laughing.

"I'm Rizumu." Rizumu merely said with an angry expression, still annoyed at how Zanardi acted just recently, which made the five new members sweatdrop.

"Um... Well... I'm Shion." Shion said, smiling nervously at the dark aura the blue-haired girl gave off.

"Elysea... Nice to meet you all." Elysea said rather quietly, not very comfortable at being in the presence of so many people. Akira noticed this, but knew that she just needed time to get used to them.

"Akira here! Let's do our best, 'kay?" he exclaimed with a smile.

"Caeldori." Caeldori simply said, her fan covering her mouth like always.

"I'm Jason." Jason told them in a relaxed way with his hands behind his head as he grinned at them.

"I'm Hiromu." Hiromu said, keeping a perfect pokerface that is sure to frustrate his future poker game foes.

"I'm Mao! I don't remember names easily, so please don't mind it if I call you guys wrong... Okay?" Mao said before glancing at a certain girl holding a fan with fear in his eyes, remembering that she didn't take it very well.

Said girl promptly shot a harsh glare at him, causing him to hide behind Jason, who sweatdropped at them.

"Mao, she doesn't bite." Hiromu deadpanned, doing his best to not facepalm right then and there.

"Are you kidding?! Look at her eyes! She looks like she's out to kill me!" the mint-haired boy shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at her before immediately withdrawing it upon seeing her sharpening glare.

In the end, Hiromu couldn't stop the facepalm.

"Now, now... We should all get along. You could try to remember her name first so there won't be any problems." Jason tried to break the 'fight', smiling.

"Ah, good idea!" Mao cheered, agreeing whole-heartedly.

"If so, then what is my name?" Caeldori questioned, staring at him with sharp eyes.

Mao gulped, taking a step back.

"I-I'm sorry?" he said.

"I said... What _is_ my name?" the girl repeated in an even more ominous voice.

.

.

.

"... C-Colly?"

A fan was thrown directly towards the mint-haired boy, who just barely managed to evade it. A crack was made on the wall from being struck by the paper fan, which became stuck there.

Mao instantly went to hide behind Alabaster as he cowered in fear.

Rizumu became even more displeased.

Both Shion and Alabaster looked horrified as they stared at the cracked wall.

Elysea looked surprised.

Akira had a blank look.

Caeldori looked annoyed.

Jason sighed before shaking his head.

Hiromu facepalmed for the second time.

Julius was starting to think that they are crazy.

Selena gasped with her hands covering her mouth.

Cross was having second thoughts about joining the 'unique' group.

Alisa sweatdropped at their actions.

Miki looked scared as she kept glancing between them and the wall, then to the terrified Alabaster and Shion.

Weiss was as horrified as Alabaster and Shion are.

"B-But... The chief had just finished fixing that up a week ago..." Alabaster spoke in horror, becoming paler as each second passed.

"She'd understand this! Right? Right?" Shion tried to assure him to no avail, since even he was in panic.

The poor inspector sulked in a corner.

.

 **~The next morning~**

It was around 5:30 A.M.

Everyone was fast asleep in each of their rooms, except for two people who are currently in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Well... Only one person did.

Akira sat backwards on a chair and crossed his arms on top of the backrest as he rested his chin on them, watching his childhood friend cook. He had officially been banned from touching any utensils nor ingredients in the kitchen, to his slight disappointment. Though, he figured that he wouldn't be able to cook to save his life anyway.

"Is it done yet?" he asked for the trillionth time that day.

"Almost, Akira... Almost." she replied, placing another batch of pancakes on a plate before going on to make the next batch.

A few more minutes passed.

"Is it done yeeet?"

"No, Akira. I've said this for a hundred times already. Cooking for around fifteen people won't just be finished in a second." the white-haired girl replied with a tired sigh.

The boy pouted childishly at her words.

Speaking of which, why did Elysea start becoming like their personal cook? If he's not mistaken, when they first joined the Police, it was in food crisis.

Rizumu could only make pastries, Zanardi had never touched a kitchen in her life, Alabaster was no better, Shion's arm was broken that time (he was the previous cook until he recently rage quitted), and he was downright terrible.

Good thing Elysea was able to. Their lives were saved.

Though, hopefully at least some of these new members know how to cook as well. It would be really tiring to make food for all these people, and he wondered just how long it would take until his childhood friend decided to rage quit like Shion.

Hm... Now he's curious on why Shion actually decided to stop cooking. He should ask him later.

As if having eyes behind her head, Elysea turned around to speak just when Akira was about to ask the same question again.

"Could you wake the others up? I'm nearly done with these." she said, returning back in making the next batch of pancakes.

The black-haired boy grinned. Now _this_ is something that he could actually do.

He rose up from his seat and walked towards the living quarters, and only then did the white-haired girl actually realize that it was not such a good idea...

 **~In Mao's room~**

Mao was sleeping soundly like a baby in his room which is mint-colored from top to bottom, which just showed his absolute love of mint.

Everything was peaceful except for the occasional faint-sounding snores coming from the boy, who, for your information, is also hugging a mint-colored, adorable teddy bear.

I'm not kidding you. It's a rare limited edition. Lucky kid...

And should I tell you that he's also wearing light green pajamas with brown teddy patterns? Well, now you know.

"Fudge?"

A strange living creature which looked like a sparkling, white, mochi bunny head having big and round sparkly eyes snuck into the room and hopped on the bed, landing right next to the unsuspecting sleeping boy.

Just so you know, that creature happens to be half as big as a school desk, only wider since it's like a mochi.

The adorable creature tilted it's head, or itself rather, as it stared at the sleeping Mao with it's seemingly permanent " ' w ' " face. It poked his cheek with a sausage-like hand, earning a scrunched up expression in response as he rolled away from it.

The creature puffed out its cheeks, seemingly displeased at the boy's stubbornness and hopped closer to him before doing the same action, causing Mao to roll away once again.

Frustrated, the creature poked the boy with even more force on his cheek, which only made him do another roll towards the edge of his bed. He fell down from it unelegantly with a brief yelp along with the thick blanket covering him that cushioned him from the otherwise deadly fall.

Mao rose upright from the blanket and rubbed his head.

"Aiyeee... What in the world just happened?" he whined to himself, just right before seeing the mochi-like creature staring at him from atop his bed.

"Fuudge!" the creature cheered as it placed its sausage-like arms on its sides, seemingly proud of being able to wake him up.

A blink, then a scream.

.

 **~In Caeldori's room~**

Caeldori was suddenly awakened due to the horrified scream. She sat upright, still trying to process her surroundings and just what the high-pitched noise was.

After a moment, she soon noticed something very off about her room.

Walls still red? Check.

Blanket still dark red? Check.

Red pajamas? Check.

Fans still on bedside table? Check.

Her brother's picture next to it? Also a check.

Her kimono folded neatly on the table? Double check.

Her rubber band between her brother's picture and her fans? Triple check.

Sparkling mochi creature staring at her face? Wait, what?

The red-haired girl immediately grabbed her fans from the bedside table and pointed it towards the creature in alarm. She carefully observed the strange being, watching for any moves it'll make with a sharp gaze.

The mochi-like rabbit, however, just blinked its sparkly eyes and had a happy expression, as if cheering her, then jumped off her bed and hopped cheerfully out of her room, squeezing itself out the slightly open door with a faint 'plop'.

"Fudge fudge~" it sang as it hopped along.

Caeldori was left alone in that room, speechless.

She rubbed her head, deciding to just go downstairs after washing up to see how the others are doing and if they also met... such a unique creature in their room..

 **~In Jason's room~**

Jason shifted uncomfortably in his sleep at hearing the scream. He tried to go back to sleep, but the curiosity that got to him kept him away from it. Deciding that he should probably wake up in case something bad happened, he opened his eyes to see the mochi-like bunny creature looking at him, although it was standing on the floor so only its eyes and ears can be seen.

It's a nightmare for children.

Instead of freaking out, however, Jason just stared at it with a curious expression, wondering if it really is real. He sat upright and reached out a hand to hover above the creature's head, which started to stare at his hand in wonder. Seeing that it seemed to not be a harmless thing whatsoever, he tapped his hand on its head and was surprised to feel it being like a mix of jelly and a soft pillow rather than a literal mochi.

"You'd make a wonderful pillow." he said to the creature. It tilted its head in what seems to be curiosity, but let the dark-haired man pat its head for a short while before hopping towards the door.

"Fudge!" it said, pointing its sausage-like hand to the door and waited for the man to stand up from his bed.

"Alright, alright. Just let me finish changing out of my pajamas." he told it.

"Fudge fudge!" the creature replied, nodding.

 **~In Hiromu's room~**

Different from the others, it seems that Hiromu had already woken up. He's currently reading a book as he sat against the bed's headboard, already having changed from his pajamas to some casual clothes.

His peaceful moments were sadly interrupted by the scream, alarming him to place the book back on the bedside table.

Just when he was about to stand up, he noticed that something was staring at him. It was watching him from outside the door, only peeking inside with one eye as it hid itself from his view. Hiromu narrowed his eyes at its strange actions.

The creature, realizing that he noticed its presence, quickly withdrew itself from his sight.

Hiromu sweatdropped at seeing it return back to watching him with one eye after only a short while of hiding.

"Just come out. I can see you already." he said as he rolled his eyes at it.

The mochi-like bunny creature came into the room slowly by sliding into the room as it held onto the wall, which made the young man feel tempted to just facepalm right there.

"So, _what_ are you? Why are you here?" he asked, tapping his foot as he expected for it to answer him, only to be replied with a sausage-like hand pointing to the door.

"Fuudge!" it exclaimed with a serious expression, not smiling like the previous mochi-like creatures.

"You want me to go outside?" he asked, earning a determined nod.

Picking up all the pieces together, he finally realized what the creature really meant.

"Someone asked you to wake me up, didn't they?" he concluded. It nodded yet again, still retaining its serious look.

"... Alright, fine. I suppose I should go see the others..."

 **~In Julius' room~**

Julius was just sleeping in peace when he felt the bed shaking like an earthquake just happened. Even if he still wanted to sleep, he forced himself to open his heavy eyes to see a scene that he could never imagine even in his wildest dreams.

A bunny mochi creature jumping happily on his bed, and that thing was half the size of his pillow.

The creature then looked at him, and seeing that he was finally awake, had mischievous-looking sparkly eyes.

It doesn't need a genius to figure out what its plan is.

"Wait, don't-!"

Ignoring the white-haired man, the mochi-like creature started to hop repeatedly on his bed with glee, making the bed shake heavily like a terrible earthquake just hit.

"S-S-S-S-St-Sto-Stop j-j-j-j-jum-p-p-p-ping!" Julius tried to say, his words sadly falling onto deaf ears.

"Fudge fudge! Fudge fudge!" it cheered.

Fortunately for him, the creature soon grew tired after jumping so much and slumped in its place, having dizzy eyes.

"Fuuudge..."

The white-haired man sweatdropped and scratched his head in pure confusion.

"What in the world..? What is this thing?" he mumbled to himself.

Before he could think of anything else, the creature blinked its eyes and hopped back to its usual self, jumping off the bed and towards the door, all the while exclaiming a bunch more of its strange language as if expecting him to understand it.

Needless to say, he didn't.

Julius sweatdropped once more and finally decided to just ask the others if they knew what it was.

 **~In Selena's room~**

Selena is an early bird. She had woken up earlier than the others, although not as early as two certain members or Hiromu, and had already finished changing into a simple dress.

Looking at the time, she decided that she should probably wake Julius up for some morning tea and left her room.

She closed the door and turned around to face the hallway going to the stairs (the men's living quarters are on the 2nd floor. The girls' are on the 3rd.), only to see the mochi-like creature standing on the ground near her.

The creature looked up towards her curiously, its expression innocent just like a little child.

The silver-haired woman did her best to hold in a squeal to not scare it and picked it up in her hands carefully.

"Awwww!~ You're so cute!" she exclaimed, giggling as she hugged the strange bunny, which had one of its eyes closed because of her hugging it.

"Fudge?" it said quietly, but cutely, and Selena had to force herself to not squish it right then and there.

"Are you lost? Where's your owner?" she asked, holding it away from her. The creature just tilted its head in response, as if confused of her question. Perhaps it didn't understand her?

"Hm... Do you want to come with me, then? Maybe we'll find them later." she told it with a smile. It nodded, although its puzzled face still remained.

.

 **~In Cross' room~**

"Fudge?"

Cross twitched in his sleep at hearing the sound.

"Fudge!"

He tried to ignore it, thinking that it was probably his imagination.

"Fudge fudge!"

Having enough, he forced himself to wake up and sat upright. Just then, to his horror, he saw the mochi bunny holding his submachinegun in its sausage-like arms with mischievous, sparkling eyes. It pointed the weapon to the wall...

"Hey! Don't-"

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

"Fu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-udge!" the creature exclaimed, having a shocked expression from the loud sounds coming from the submachinegun. The moment it stopped firing, it let go of the weapon with horror and hopped away from it, having tears in its eyes.

"Fuuudgee! Fuuuudgee!" it cried, hiding below the table inside the room and closed its eyes using its ears as it trembled in fear.

Of course, Cross was shocked beyond belief. He started to question himself if he was still dreaming or if that thing was real. If it was, then what is it? He's certainly never seen it before...

He slowly walked to the table and crouched to see the strange creature, which soon opened its eyes to see what was blocking the light as it kept shaking.

"Hey," he started to say, "You okay?"

The creature paused for a moment as it stared at him, then shook its head quickly before trembling once again.

' _Well, it sure is honest at least..._ ' he thought, amused.

"You shouldn't touch others' belongings without permission, alright? That's what can happen if you don't." he warned it, earning a nod this time.

Sensing that it probably doesn't want to be in his room any longer, he picked the creature up. It remained quiet in his arms.

"Come on, let's get you out of here."

.

 **~In Alisa's room~**

Alisa felt a poke while she was asleep. She ignored it, thinking that it might have been her pillow since it was so soft.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

Another poke.

Then, suddenly something cried right beside her.

"FUUUUUUUDGEEEEE!" it sobbed aloud.

Startled, she immediately woke up to see a mochi bunny crying on her bed. It rolled around as it flapped its arms like a sulky, crying child.

"FUUUUUUDGEEEE!"

"P-Please stop crying! What's wrong?!" she asked, puzzled about the poor, little creature.

"FUUUUUUUDGEEEEE!"

Now worried, Alisa patted its head gently in an attempt to soothe it. The creature actually stopped crying, but it still did a few sniffles now and then.

"There, there... Did something happen? Why were you crying?" she questioned.

The creature stared at her with a shocked expression, as if it didn't believe what she was saying. It started to tremble, its ears covering it. Then it suddenly cried facing the ceiling as its tears became like a fountain.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDGEEEEEEE!" it cried, being more upset than before.

"E-Eh?!"

.

 **~In Miki's room~**

Miki was sleeping in peace.

All was peaceful, all is calm...

Ahh~ The cool air~ The warm blankets~ The comfortably silent room~

Until her blanket was suddenly pulled off of her in a harsh manner.

"W-What? What's going on?!" Miki cried out, surprised to see a mochi-like creature staring at her with its arms crossed. It looked annoyed, somehow, which made it all the scarier for her.

"Fudge." it said, as if displeased with her.

"W-What is it?" she asked anxiously.

"FUDGE!" it yelled out, jabbing its sausage-like hand towards the door in an angry manner.

"E-Eh?" Miki was confused.

"FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE," it pointed towards her, "FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE," then pointed to her clothes on the table, "FUDGE FUDGE!" it finished, pointing to the door as it glared at her with eyes that could kill, despite its cute-looking self.

"Y-You're telling me to go get changed and get outside..?" she asked, interpreting its words.

"FUDGE." it nodded, pleased that she understood.

"O-Okay..."

"FUDGE FUDGE! FUDGE FUDGE!"

"A-Alright, alright! Please don't get angry at mee!"

 **.**

 **~In Weiss' room~**

Like a few others, Weiss had also already woken up and finished changing into some casual clothes. He kept glancing towards the clock and the door nervously, wondering if it was the right time for him to wake up. He had completely forgotten and had just recently realized that the systems there probably worked differently from his previous department.

After some time, he finally decided to just check if anyone was up yet and slowly walked to the door. Once he opened it, he was surprised to find himself staring at the mochi-like creature. This mochi-like creature, however, was a few meters away from his room, hopping back and forth with a worried look. It gave him the impression that it was lost.

Still, he couldn't help but be shocked at what he saw.

What was that thing? A living mochi? A distorted bunny? A new type of hybrid creature? A monster never seen before? Someone's lost pet or creation?

It's cute, though.

Before his thoughts could continue on, the creature noticed him and suddenly tackled his leg into a hug.

"Fuuudge!" it cried, sobbing right after.

It would be an understatement to say that he was surprised at this sudden turn of events. Why would this creature suddenly go to him? Is he that lost?

"Um... What's wrong?" he hesitantly asked, picking the teary-eyed bunny up from sticking to his leg.

"Fudge fuudge!" it exclaimed with tears rolling down from its eyes. Somehow, Weiss felt that it was crying tears of happiness and not sadness, but then again he might be wrong.

The boy looked around to see if anyone was nearby, but saw no one.

"Maybe they're downstairs already... Hopefully they can help you." he said to it as he wiped its tears away with his thumb.

Hugging the mochi-like creature gently in his arms, he started to descend down the stairs.

.

 **~On the first floor~**

Everyone was soon on the first floor along with the strange mochi-like creatures. They sat down on the long dining table like the older police members, while their mochi-like creatures sat or stood next to them on the table. Several other mochi bunnies, much like theirs but having different accessories are near the older members.

Only Alabaster wasn't present.

Seeing all of their confused, amused, and horrified expressions, Rizumu figured out what happened.

"Ah, so I see that you've met your very own Fudge Rabbits," she said before she took a sip of her tea, "They're the mascots of this department and are also our pets. We're supposed to introduce them this morning, but I guess Akira sent them off earlier beforehand..." she said, eyeing the black-haired boy who scratched his cheek sheepishly.

She sighed, shaking her head.

"I guess he has the right to, seeing that he's the one who made them... In any case, they can only stay inside this building, so they wouldn't be able to follow you outside or in patrol. They act just like normal pets, but they can understand human language so they're a bit different." she explained.

The new members stared at Akira, in disbelief that he created such... creatures. He chuckled.

"Um... How do we differentiate them?" Alisa asked after she raised a hand.

"Their personalities all differ, but you can give them names and accessories if you want to. Like ours." Shion told them, pointing to the fudge rabbit that wore a dark purple-colored tie next to him.

"I named mine Cleff." Rizumu said, gesturing towards a fudge rabbit wearing a dark blue police hat that was drinking a cup of tea beside hers with a straw elegantly as its eyes pierced through them one by one.

"Mine's Skulli." Zanardi said, jabbing a finger towards her fudge rabbit eating a piece of meat that has a skull decoration on one of its ear as she rested her head on her palm lazily. "Oh, I'm Zanardi, by the way."

"This little guy's Elliot." Shion said, his fudge rabbit puffed its nonexistent chest with its hands on itself in a somehow proud manner.

"Mine's called Ivory." Elysea said with a smile, patting a fudge rabbit wearing a cream-colored barrette as it wore a 'w' expression.

"My buddy's name is Snoozy!" Akira told them cheerfully, patting a fudge rabbit with a gray sleeping hat that was sleeping on the table.

"Of course, you don't need to immediately name them now. Take your time." Rizumu assured them when she saw a few panicked looks from the new members.

"What she said. Or else you might end up with a name as stupid as Measter Bunn-" Zanardi was smacked with a flute by the blue-haired girl, who had a light blush of embarrassment on her face.

"Shut up, Zanardi. Shut up." she growled, glaring at her.

Zanardi merely smirked.

"It's not my fault that you have a bad naming sense!" she taunted, earning a more deadly glare.

"As if Skulli is an original name!" Rizumu retorted.

"At least it's better than Meas- Ouw!"

"SHUT UP, ZANARDI!"

Everyone sweatdropped as another quarrel started. Deciding to just let the two be, they began to eat their breakfast in peace.

"You're not any better! You first named yours Corpse!"

"Shuttap! I still didn't try naming my fudge rabbit using a bad pun!"

Just a normal day~

.

 **~Omakes~**

 **~In Hiromu's room~**

Different from the others, it seems that Hiromu had already woken up. He's currently reading a book as he sat against the bed's headboard.

His peaceful moments were sadly interrupted by the scream, alarming him to place the book back on the bedside table.

Just when he was about to stand up, he noticed that something was staring at him from the door. It was watching him from out the door, only peeking inside with one eye as it hid itself from his view. Hiromu narrowed his eyes at its strange actions.

The creature, realizing that he noticed its presence, quickly rushed away from the door. It held its pinkish cheeks as its eyes went wide in realization.

' _Senpai noticed me!~'_ it thought happily.

Inside his room, Hiromu shuddered.

.

The mochi-like bunny creature came into the room slowly by sliding into the room as it held onto the wall, which made the young man feel tempted to just facepalm right there.

"So, _what_ are you? Why are you here?" he said before pausing, then continued, "What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? Why do I exist?"

The mochi-like creature stared at him with an incredulous face.

"Tell me strange creature... Tell me..." Hiromu finished, looking at the creature with a melancholic expression.

The creature quietly slid itself outside the room, pushed the door slowly... then slammed it close.

.

Instead of freaking out, however, Jason just stared at it with a curious expression, wondering if it really is real. He sat upright and reached out a hand to hover above the creature's head, which started to stare at his hand in wonder.

" _The claw is my master... I have been CHOSEN!_ " the creature suddenly said in a somewhat robotic fashion.

Jason flinched and immediately withdrew his hand.

The rabbit continued to stare...

.

Frustrated, the creature poked the boy with even more force on his cheek, which he returned by pushing its hand back.

The creature pushed back with more strength.

Mao did the same thing.

Push push push push

Anime veins soon appeared on the mochi creature before it tackled the poor boy and sent him crashing to the wall.

"AIYEEEEE!"

.

"This is Ivory." Elysea said with a smile, patting a fudge rabbit wearing a cream-colored barrette as it wore a 'w' expression.

They all looked at her blankly.

"Of course it's ivory." Hiromu pointed out.

Elysea blushed in embarrassment, realizing what they meant.

"I-I mean that my fudge rabbit's name is Ivory!"

.

 **3: Finishedd!~ Man, such a long chappy owo'**

 **Written in just 2 days! :3**

 **Or around one day if you don't count the other stuff owo #slapped XwX**

 **As you can see, this story's mascot is a fudge rabbit! Or fudge rabbits in this case XD**

 **TSOTSC's mascot are the mecha kitties, so this one needs a mascot too XD**

 **They're Police side exclusive, but only appears in the HQ. They won't appear all the time, of course XD**

 **Just for fluffy, cute moments :3 Or trolling ones XD**

 **Their personalities are made to fit their masters in some way. You'll see if you haven't yet XD**

 **IMPORTANT NOTE!**

 **For those whose OCs are in the Police side, please tell me your OCs' fudge rabbits' names and what accessory they'll use! If you don't, I'll give them one myself and you can't do anything about the name once it's chosen! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! #slapped XwX**

 **So hurry people, hurry! OWO #double slapped XwX**

 **Thanks for reading~**


	6. Special Chapter: The Fab

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: Here's the Vince special chap! :D**

 **I'm sorry for being a day late, just had to do some things in real life before posting this QwQ**

 **This chapter is from me and my siblings' random story telling about Vince before I published this story, which created this random plot XD Simply put, it's a collaboration of our ideas XD**

 **This story will have special chapters too, but they'll be at random times instead of after one story chap like TSOTSC. Why, if I'm in the mood there might be 2 or 3 special chaps in a row! :D**

 **It can be a pairing chap, it can be a friendship chap, or even a pure humor chap like this one! XD Or a mixed one, where the categories could all be in one chap, or just two of them :D**

 **The pairing chaps will be, well, about the pairings this story will have! It might even have parts, like part 1, 2, 3, etc, for the number of meetings they have, especially for the ones on different sides! :3**

 **The friendship chaps are like the Rain and Edd chap on TSOTSC. See? Pure friendship! It might be about two people or several more, depending on who has personalities fit enough to not kill each other (?) XD #slapped XwX**

 **The pure humor chaps? Like it's name... For pure humor! XD The topic of the chap will be incredibly random! So random, you'll have to see what the story is when it appears! :D #slapped XwX**

 **Replies~**

 **For Kazuma Shirosawa:**

 **Well... Personally, I think Nova sounds more like her title than nickname? :D**

 **Fenrir's Dinner XDDDDDDDDDD**

 **Wait, so his wolf's name is Fenrir?! Owo**

 **I have a plan for this *w***

 **For Crosspass:**

 **Hehe~ XDDDDDD**

 **The poor fudge rabbit XD**

 **Thank you! QwQ**

 **On to the story~**

 **~With the Organization side~**

Lint observed the members that had just recently joined as they all did their own things in the living room.

En was playing a relaxing tune with his electric guitar as he hummed to it on several parts.

Chess was eating a sandwich.

Cain was relaxing on the couch as he listened to the tune.

Vince... was being Vince.

If you don't know what being Vince means, it means that he's sparkling.

Now, it's not their current activities that's bothering him, (although he's quite bothered with Chess' sandwich's filling. Is that mayonnaise and chocolate that's sticking out?), it's something quite simple.

Their hair.

He's pretty sure that En's hair was messier than before, and Chess' hair was so long that he actually mistook him as a girl when he just came in. The same nearly happened for Cain, but he thanked his already grown-up look for his quick realization that he is in fact Cain.

Only Vince was different. His hair was the same as usual.

"Mr. Vince," Lint started to say, earning all of their attentions instead of just the pink-haired man, "How do you usually handle your hair?" he asked in a serious tone, which made En and Chess stare at him with expressions of disbelief before staring at each other with looks that says 'Seriously?'

Vince flipped his sparkling hair.

"In my salon, of course~" he answered.

"You have a salon?" Cain asked in surprise.

"Yes, Amigos~ "The Fab"!~ I'm its owner, but I also manage _everything_ there~ I can beautify your hair if you want~" he replied with another flip of his hair.

Lint nodded, pleased at this new information, although he ignored the beautify bit.

"A simple haircut would suffice. Your friends are in... a dire need of a haircut." he told him.

En's eyes were sparkling in excitement.

"Man, The Fab is a famous place! I can't believe Vince's the owner! That salon's even recommended by celebrities and the royal families! Did you know that it even gives haircuts for monsters and pets?!" En continued on, causing both Chess and Cain to sweatdrop.

"I didn't know that En is such a fan." Chess whispered to Cain, who nodded.

Vince, on the other hand, was pleased at this. He had a few new hairstyles in mind that he wanted to try. Who knows? Maybe they could be added to his hair list!

 **~In The Fab~**

"Woaaahhh!" En and Chess gasped.

The floors were sparkling clean, the lights were somehow refreshingly bright, the air was cool, and the decorations were rather extravagant. A golden chandelier hung on the ceiling, and the chairs as well as mirrors were lavished with abstract carvings. Not to mention the high-tech tools and expensive-looking hair paints.

Cain sweatdropped.

"Now who wants to have their hair beautified first?~" Vince questioned, getting a pink, hair-cutting cape as he stood behind one of the many chairs.

While Chess was thinking twice on getting a haircut because of the pink cape, En raised a hand as he jumped repeatedly in excitement.

"Me! Me! I'll be first! I'll be first!" he exclaimed.

"Such wonderful enthusiasm!~ Very well, Amigo, you shall be first!~" Vince agreed happily.

The dark red-haired boy immediately sat on the chair, excited at what hair he'd get as he kept jumping in his seat.

"Aw... I wanted to be first!" Chess whined, finally deciding that he wanted a haircut after all. Cain patted his head.

"I'll be third, Chess, don't worry." the black-haired man assured.

"Really?!" the boy gasped at him, his eyes sparkling.

Vince soon got a pair of scissors out of nowhere, a glint shining in his eye.

Pink smokes, sparkles, and glitters suddenly covered the two as Vince set to work. Chess and Cain couldn't help but gape at the strange sight, and was even more shocked that Vince had managed to finish his work very quickly.

Still, their previous shock was no match to their current one, right after they saw En's hair.

"I call this... the "Magnifico"!~~" Vince announced, gesturing his arms towards the boy.

The dark red-haired boy's hair turned very tall and spiky. So spiky, they wondered just how much hair gel he used, especially since he was able to somehow style his hair to be on the side of his head, right above his left ear, while the rest of his head was nearly bald. His hair was also given black-colored highlights at the ends of it.

En froze at the haircut he got, then his eyes started sparkling like never before.

"I-It's! It's so rockstar!" he exclaimed, ecstatic at his current hair.

Cain and Chess were starting to get worried about what will happen to their hair.

 **~A few minutes later~**

"This is... "The Fantastico"!~" Vince exclaimed, showing Chess' new hairstyle to the people present.

Chess immediately turned into a statue, while Cain looked worried for the little boy.

En, however, was clapping his hands in pure awe.

Chess was given an afro hair. Not a normal one, I tell you. It was bigger than the boy himself. If his hair was painted dark green and his clothes were changed to light green ones, he would turn into a walking broccoli.

The boy immediately dashed away from his seat into the toilet inside the building.

"DON'T LOOK AT MEEEE..!" he cried, sobbing dramatically as he covered his eyes with one arm.

"But it's so stylish!" Vince gasped, somehow offended by Chess' dramatic escape.

 **~More minutes later~**

"This is the current trend for men these days!~ I call it... "The Spectacularico"!~~" Vince informed, revealing Cain's current hair to the uncomfortable young man.

His black-colored hair is now wavy, falling down to reach his waist as it shone in the light and gave it a soft yet glossy look.

A few male passers-by gave a whistle, most probably mistaking him for a girl, especially since he was seen sideways.

Cain trembled as his face paled.

"I-I don't think I like this new trend..." he said, horrified.

 **~In the HQ~**

Lint stared at the three members that have just returned. Vince had told them before they left that he would still stay at The Fab to attend his newly arrived customers. Apparently, he has to style a bride and her groom for their wedding.

En kept sparkling at his new hairstyle.

Chess was sobbing.

Cain was sulking in a corner.

"... What happened to your hair? Why have they grown... longer?" Lint asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Please don't ask..." Cain pleaded.

Lint sighed and opened his drawer, taking out a pair of scissors. He made his way towards the three and started cutting their hairs with lightning speed, finishing with a swiftly done elegant pose.

All of their hairs returned back to normal, complete in their usual lengths.

En gasped in horror.

Chess gasped in awe.

Cain sighed in relief.

"Why didn't you cut our hairs from the start, then?!" Chess whined. Lint looked towards the side, refusing to meet Cain and the little boy's demanding gazes.

"I was lazy." he admitted.

"YOU WERE WHAATTT?!"

The dark red-haired boy started punching the floor while his other arm covered his teary eyes.

"NO..! We got those hairstyles for free..! Do you know how expensive that place really is?!" he cried, unable to accept his loss.

"And torture myself by seeing your ridiculous looks each day? I'd rather not." Lint scoffed, crossing his arms.

"I wonder how we'll even be able to keep up the hairstyles everyday." Cain pointed out as he scratched his cheek sheepishly, although deep in his heart, he was relieved.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I NEED MAGNIFICO BAAACKKKK!"

 **3: The special chap ish done~ XDDDD**

 **The next chapter will be up to my brain whether it'll be another special chap or not! We'll see~ ;3**

 **Thanks for reading~**


	7. On A Nice Summer Day (OCs)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: FINALLLYYYY~~~ THE EXAMS ARE FREAKING FINALLY DONEEEEE QWQ**

 **NOW I CAN TYPE IN PEACE QWQ Still have to go to school though, but at least there's no more studyinggg XD**

 **FINALLYYYYYY XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD #slapped XwX**

 ***SOME IRRELEVANT RAMBLINGS, SO SKIP IT IF YOU'RE UNINTERESTED***

 **Well, it's actually been quite a while since the exams are done, but something else followed after it and lasted for a whole week, so... T^T**

 **After that I've been revamping my OCs, namely Elysea, Akira, Lorelei, and Ozul, mostly the first two. I have made big changes, especially on their background story :3 Still thinking on Lorelei and Ozul's though owo I think Ozzy's gonna have extreme changes owo I'm re-thinking on him being a half reaper or just a normal human...**

 **Another major (I think) change is Aki-chan's surname, I have changed it into Kokuei *^***

 **Yes, I changed it OwO #slapped XwX**

 **I have also created a few (2, although 1 can't really be called an OC I guess..?) new OCs that will be very relevant to this story *^***

 **One will appear soon enough, but the other would only appear on the later parts of this fict... Man, it's gonna be a long journey OwO**

 ***THE RAMBLINGS ARE DONE. FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE :D***

 **This chapter turns out to be a story chapter! X3**

 **More new members for the Organization side! :D**

 **Replies~**

 **For Kazama Shirosawa:**

 **... Nova still sounds like a title to me to be honest ouoa**

 **Those apostrophes are suspicious lookin' OwO**

 **Hoho~ :3**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **Thank you~ XD**

 **Heheheh~ Too bad we can't see him in those kinds of hairstyles... D:**

 **Or should I? *w* #slapped XwX**

 **For Crosspass:**

 **Yep, yep~ Except if you're a big fan like En, maybe? XD**

 **Chess: QwQ**

 **Cain: ... *sulks***

 **3: You have mustache?! Owo**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **Glad you liked it! XDDD**

 **Hohoho... I used this in this chapter XD**

 **They're not chocolate mochi pets, fudge is just their food :D They're white-colored :D**

 **Nope, just here for the fluffy, cute moments X3 Or funny ones XD**

 **Sorry for the late update this time! Hopefully this extremely long chapter can make it up! QwQb**

 **.**

 **On to the story~**

 **~With the Organization side~**

They are all doing their own things as usual, until Lint opened the door and came in with several more unfamiliar faces.

"We have more new members joining us today." he said with his usual pokerface as the new members stood next to him.

Cain raised a hand.

"Err... Sir Lint?" he questioned, having a mixture of hesitance and curiosity on his expression.

"Yes, Cain?"

"It's good that we got more people and all, but... We're not really doing anything, are we?" he pointed out.

"Yeah! I'm bored!" En exclaimed with a pouty face and crossed arms.

"Give us some action or something! At least give us a free trip somewhere!" Nex exclaimed with a similar pouty face.

"Oh! Oh! I wanna go to the amusement park! The amusement parrkkk!" Chess energetically said with sparkling eyes.

Amane was asleep on the couch peacefully, while Helios was staring at them unamused as he sat beside her. Alice was also next to the butler as she played with her cards, ignoring the others.

"Looks like Chess is finally bored of chess?" Xen joked with a grin before he laughed to himself.

"I want to visit Egypt." Yucca said with a smile, causing everyone to be silent.

"... But Yucca, it's currently summer. Is it not hot enough for you? Actually, why're you wearing a jacket and scarf?" Nezu questioned with an incredulous look. The others all went to look at the albino elf, seeing that she is indeed wearing said clothing. Yucca looked a bit amused.

"Is it? I don't feel very hot now, though." she replied.

"Your nerves must be mistaken," Nex commented with a look of disbelief.

Lint coughed suddenly, interrupting their conversations.

"As impolite as I am in disrupting your... interesting talks, you're all just as impolite for ignoring these people here." he reminded them with a frown, tapping a foot on the floor impatiently.

One of the people beside the formal looking man looked rather amused, while the other two seemed disinterested. The other one, however, was already roaming around the room.

"... What're you doing? Get back here." the director growled.

"Ahh, sorry, Mister." he said with no hint of remorse whatsoever as he grinned before returning back to his previous place in between two of the other new members.

Lint sighed and slightly slumped.

"... In any case, you four should introduce yourselves." he exasperately said, looking as if he'd rather be somewhere else.

The one on the left is a woman having silvery white hair that is tied into a long ponytail that reaches her waist with three star-shaped black hairclips on her bangs, and has hazelnut brown eyes. She wears what seems to be a black business coat, with the sleeves worn only halfway, leaving her upper arms visible, over a white button-up shirt with frilly motifs and a black ribbon, a black mini-skirt, and a pair of black heels for footwear. There is also a piece of black cloth around her left thigh that sports the numbers "055".

"To be honest, I don't really have a name... but you can all call me Five." she told them with a gentle smile, then nudged the tall young man beside him as if telling him to speak up.

Some of them gulped at the intense atmosphere he brought with him, and his scary-looking expression isn't helping in that either.

"... Seven." he merely told them reluctantly.

He has unruly greyish black hair that reaches a small part of his back. His bangs form a slight widow's peak, and are long enough to obscure his only visible left crimson eye, since his right one is kept from view by a roll of white gauze that was wrapped around his head. He wears a black military business coat with red accents hanging from his shoulders, though the boy doesn't really wear the sleeves. He wears a greyish black long-sleeved button-up shirt that looks more of a coat than anything with mismatched sleeves, with the left one extending to his wrist whereas the right stops at his elbow. For his lower attire, he wears dark pants with red linings on either side and a pair of dark combat boots. Of note, there is a piece of cloth hanging from his waist and covering the upper half of his left leg. The cloth is black while the edges are red, and they sport the numbers '017' near the end.

Chess saw this and innocently raises a hand up, surprising a few people in the vicinity.

"Why aren't you called Seventeen?" he questioned with pure curiosity, earning looks of shock that seemed to say 'you're-suicidal'.

"Isn't that because it'll be a mouthful?" En answered his question with a laugh, earning more shocked looks from the few people.

 _'These two are idiots!'_ the few thought in horror, faces turning pale.

Seven glared at them with eyes that could kill, causing Chess to gulp in realization at the situation, but for En to continue laughing without a care in the world.

"Don't blame me if I killed these trashes, Five..." he growled, taking out a mechanical double-edged sword with metal apparatuses that connect the blade to the handle. The sword itself seems to take on the shape of a lightning bolt, and is jet-black in color.

"Seven!" Five scolded, frowning at him.

"Oh, bring it!" En taunted as he smirked at him, taking his red-colored electric guitar having orange-colored fire patterns.

The one who had been roaming around before was about to stop them, but a certain suit-wearing man beat him to it.

Suddenly, their weapons were both taken out of their hands by Lint who stared at them with annoyance.

"You are _not_ fighting in my office." Lint warned them with a sharp glare that could make hyperactive rebellious kids want to go to sleep. "If you want to kill each other, do it _outside_."

 _'That's what matters most?!'_ the few had shocked looks once again.

Feeling ignored, the young man beside Seven sighed before he decided to speak up and raised a hand.

"Uh... My name's Ivy." he said. He has jet black, slick hair with a single blue streak, azure eyes, and wears a black hoodie over a blue t-shirt, black shorts, and black sneakers with a blue strip.

Hearing his voice, they all settled back down and decided to continue the introductions.

"Sorry. Could you please repeat that?" Lint asked, sighing in frustration at the stubborn members.

"My name's Ivy."

"It sounds fem-" En's mouth was closed by an exasperated Cain.

"Not a word, En. Not a word." the young man told him, not wanting to start another problem.

Ivy raised an eyebrow in suspicion at what he's gonna say, but seeing their current state, decided to not comment on it.

They turned towards the fourth person, who was already leaning against the wall behind him in boredom as he stared back at them. He briefly closed his eyes and let out a small sigh before standing up lazily.

"I'm Rain." he said.

He has longish, spiky gray hair and wears a greyish T-shirt with a certain symbol on the middle, and a black coat that has a certain mark on the right arm. His arms are nasod arms, and his pants are black-colored with some pockets on each side,just like his coat. His right eye is black with a red iris, while his left eye is blue with a light blue iris.

"Introductions aside, when are we going to do anything?" Amane asked groggily, having awoken from her slumber.

 _'She's such a rebel!'_ The few thought with a sweatdrop, although they also agreed to her question.

Lint sighed.

"I told you, we're not doing anything unless our hacker finds something out. They're on the low these days, so we still haven't managed to find anything." he replied with rolled eyes, "Besides, we're not done with the introductions yet. But first... Let me give them their codenames."

The man then turned towards Five and Seven before pausing.

"... Five and Seven are good enough." he told them.

"D-Deja vu!" Xen gasped dramatically.

Five had to wonder about that.

 _'Deja vu? Why?'_ she thought.

Yucca glanced towards Thirteen who was sitting a few seats away from her, his hood covering him from view. Honestly, he looked like a shady character, but that wasn't the important thing here.

Does he know them?

As this carried on, Lint pointed towards Ivy.

"Yours will be Blade." he said, while Ivy grinned in approval.

"That sounds-"

"Your codename will be Brute." the director interrupted as he pointed at Rain, leaving a dejected Ivy to sulk in a corner.

Rain made no comment at his codename and just stared at the director with an unamused look.

Seeing Lint look towards them, the others accepted it as their cue.

"I'm En, codename Rock! Nice to meet 'cha!" he introduced himself first with a peace sign towards them.

"I'm Cain, or Spirit. I hope we get along." Cain said before he did a polite bow.

"Chess here! And my codename's also Chess, sadly..." his cheerful mood quickly turned dark before he accompanied Ivy as they sulked at the corner together. The others sweatdropped.

"My name's Nezu, and my codename's Trick!" Nezu exclaimed cheerfully.

"Amane Cyber... Codename Cyber..." Amane reluctantly said as she sulked quietly in her seat.

"Helios, and my codename is Knife." Helios said as he started to glare daggers at Lint after seeing Amane sulk.

"Yo! I'm Xen Adreal, codename Brawler!" Xen grinned, doing a good guy pose.

"My name is Alice, and my codename is Seer." Alice told them as she kept playing with her cards.

"Yucca ReVyllea, or Vine." Yucca said with a smile.

"I'm Nex Ageto, my codename's Gambler, and... Hope you won't mix me and Xen's names up." Nex told them as he laughed along with the spiky dark brown-haired young man.

"Thirteen... My codename is the same..." he said in an almost inaudible voice, but it was enough for them to hear.

Both Five and Seven widened their eyes, although Seven's look was hardly noticeable.

"Thirteen..? You're alive..?" Five asked, her expression of disbelief.

Everyone immediately turned their gazes back and forth from the two to the short boy.

Thirteen looked back towards her, then to Seven who had a similar look. He tilted his head, his hood swaying along with his movements.

"You know me..?" he questioned, but only earned what seemed to be shock from the two, mainly from Five, "I'm sorry... I don't know you..."

The woman tensed for a moment at his statement, but then gave him a rather forced smile.

"It's okay..." she said, "We could be wrong..."

"Of course he isn't him," Seven suddenly spoke, whispering to the silvery-white haired woman beside him, "He was my age when we met as kids. There's no way he'd still be a little brat," his face darkened as he spoke the next words, "Or still be alive for that matter..."

"But still... The fact that he's also Thirteen is a bit unsettling..." Five replied with a troubled look.

"He's not the only one with the name Thirteen. There's probably someone weird enough to name their kids that." Seven retorted with a huff.

Suddenly, Vince, who had been quiet all this time, rose up on his seat.

The older members, who knew Vince by now, all looked at him with either looks of awe or horror.

The room's lights suddenly went off as light shone down on him from nowhere and lit up the glitters on his hair magnificently, followed up by his usual sparkles. His closed eyes fluttered open, revealing his sparkling purple eyes, and he struck a pose towards the ceiling. Rose petals started to fall slowly to the floor out of nowhere.

"I am Vince Vivienne von D' Light... I am the meaning of life... Beauty..! Hope... _And_ the wishes... of man..." he said dramatically as some of the rose petals fell into his hand and slowly turned into an elegant bouquet of roses, earning him several gasps of wonder.

Some looked disturbed, while the rest were starting to think if they were dreaming.

As he lowered his hand slowly, the lights turned back on, and he now suddenly stood in front of the four, shocked and alarmed, new members.

"My codename is Imbecile, but please... Feel free to call me Cile~" he told them with a gentle smile as he presented bouquets to each of them.

Rain narrowed his eyes, not sure of what to make of this... strange man in front of him.

"It's a gift for the start of our friendship!~" Vince told him cheerfully.

"Ahh, thank you, Vince!" Ivy exclaimed as he accepted the flower. A gift's still a gift, after all!

Rain's gaze turned towards the bouquet, not moving to accept it or even hold it in the slightest.

"T-Thank you." Five said as she smiled back, reaching out to accept her bouquet as she sweatdropped.

Seven's eyes suddenly darkened as he slapped the bouquets out from the pink-haired man's hands before Five was able to reach it.

"Get away from us, you piece of trash." he growled, glaring at the pink-haired man.

"Seven!" Five scolded yet again, frowning.

Vince again returned to sulking at the corner, Chess patting his shoulder comfortingly.

"There, there..." he said.

"The flowers are innocent I tell you..! Innoceeeent!" he sobbed into his hands.

Thirteen tilted his head, confused at the grayish-black haired young man's reaction.

 _'He's overreacting over flowers..?'_ he thought curiously.

.

 **~With the Police side~**

The police members were just having breakfast until...

"EVERYONE!"

... Alabaster blasted the door open.

"THIS IS A NIGHTMARE! AN UTTER NIGHTMARE!" he yelled as he clutched his head in dramatic terror.

Zanardi raised an eyebrow at her grandfather's exaggerated actions.

"Calm down, Gramps. What's up?" she said, spinning the glass of milk in her hand using a spoon before placing it on the table near where her fudge rabbit, Skulli, sat, or stood actually. It had an adorably delighted look and immediately plopped a straw into the glass before taking large sips of the drink.

Cleff rolled its eyes before releasing a sigh and said a few words in their native language, startling the other fudge rabbit to stop for a moment and start a quarrel with its seemingly born rival, some of the other fudge rabbits either trying to get them to stop or to just watch the fight.

"We're out of supplies!" the inspector cried out with tears dripping from his eyes.

Some of them, including most of the early members, gasped in horror, while the rest either blinked or just stared in confusion at their reactions.

"Um... We can just buy them..?" Miki pointed out, being one of the confused ones.

"That's the worst part... The Elmart is completely crowded everyday, so going there is practically a horrible experience every time..." Shion told her as a depressing aura started to loom over him. Akira nodded in agreement with his arms crossed.

"Uh huh. Last time I went, I had to escape from a pack of rampaging angry Ancient Phorus that got out of their cages." he said, becoming pale as he relieved the horrible experience.

"I was nearly kidnapped by desert harpies ..." Elysea mumbled in an audible voice, trembling in her seat.

"Some phoru had the nerve to steal my wallet!" Zanardi shouted angrily, clenching her fist upwards in a way that makes it seem like she wants to punch said creature.

"Hey, where are they going?" Selena asked as her eyes followed the mochi-like group until they left the door, a bit concerned about her own fudge rabbit.

"Maybe outside. It's a nice day anyway, they probably just needed a little sunshine." Julius answered her right before yawning as he closed his mouth, his other hand still holding a cup of coffee.

"You're still sleepy, Jully? Didn't you go back to your room early yesterday?" Akira asked before eating a piece of his pancake.

Julius' eye twitched a little at the nickname, but he tried to ignore it instead.

"Yeah, that thing wouldn't shut up. So I had to stick him up on the ceiling with tape and send Fenrir out 'til morning." he replied, resting his head on the back of his head sleepily.

Alisa gasped, nearly dropping the fork with a piece of the pancake sticking on it.

"T-That's so cruel! You're so mean to it!" she cried, upset.

"Who's Fenrir?" Cross questioned before taking a sip of his tea.

"My wolf." Julius simply replied, earning a nod from the dark brown-haired young man.

"You should've told me if you didn't want it. I could keep it for you." Selena told him, frowning.

"You're gonna take Fenrir's dinner? Fine by me."

"You're evil!" Alisa cried yet again.

Mao was trembling as he held his fork and knife right above his own pancake, seemingly struggling about something.

"What's wrong, Mr. Mao?" Jason asked out of confusion.

"... I was just trying to decorate my pancake and accidentally made it look too cute... I don't have the heart to eat it now..." he sobbed, closing his eyes with his hands.

Jason took a look at his meal, which now looked like an adorable teddy bear's face that had a pleading look. He sweatdropped.

Caeldori stared at the two from the corner of her eye as she kept eating before placing her utensils on the sides of her plate. While Mao kept sobbing with his eyes closed, she took his utensils and swiftly chopped it into pieces, destroying the adorable picture made out of maple syrup along with it before placing the knife and fork down, then returned to eating her meal as if nothing happened.

Jason was amused and chuckled, wondering what Mao's reaction would be at seeing the 'murdered' teddy.

Hearing him chuckle, the mint-haired boy wondered what was going on and opened his eyes. He immediately gasped in horror at seeing his pancake.

"NOOOO! MR. TEDDY! What happened to you?!" he cried, not wanting to believe his eyes.

"He died, obviously." Caeldori said as she continued to eat elegantly.

"You! You're the culprit!" Mao exclaimed as suddenly rose up from his seat and pointed an accusing finger towards her, causing everyone to stare at him in either mild amusement or confusion, others thinking that he was being silly.

The red-haired girl merely sighed before looking up towards him.

"Just eat the food. It'll be a waste if you don't," she paused for a moment to think, then continued, "Or I could always eat it if you don't want to."

Jason blinked.

"... Didn't you just finish three large servings?" he questioned.

Caeldori shrugged.

"Well, food is food." she replied.

Mao fell silent and glanced at the two of them before his eyes fell on the red-haired girl, then he looked towards the wall in front of him as if in thought. He let out a sigh, slowly sitting back down.

"Okay, I'll eat." he finally said and took hold of his utensils.

Caeldori nodded in approval while Jason seemed to be in thought.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Teddy. Kelly said that I have to eat y- Ouw!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

Miki, on the other hand, was deep in thought. With Selena, Julius, Cross, and Alisa's conversation in mind, she briefly wondered what would happen if Julius was instead given a different fudge rabbit.

... Her savage fudge rabbit came to mind, placing its hands on itself as it kept on an angry, annoyed look that somehow turned similar to that of a human's. Then, it started to yell out its strange language.

 _"FUDGE FUDGE! FUDGE FUDGE!"_

She tried to stifle her laughter, causing Weiss, who's sitting in front of her, to flinch in both shock and fear.

All of a sudden, Alabaster took out a few long, thin pieces of paper and held it up for all the people to see.

"LET'S USE LOTTERY! Those who got the short ones will be the ones going today!" he exclaimed, causing them to all look towards him.

"When did you get that?" Cross asked curiously.

"When you guys were talking and ignoring me of course, when else?" he replied, shooting him a look that seems to say 'are-you-stupid'.

Cross sweatdropped.

"Now come over here! We'll settle this once and for all..!" the inspector told them with a serious look.

"This is it, guys... Our life or death..." Shion said as he stood up, cracking his knuckles.

"I was so nervous I could hardly eat..." Akira mumbled, reluctantly standing up and walked over.

Elysea stayed silent as she walked, but worry was evident in her eyes.

"I'm not gonna lose in some lottery!" Zanardi declared before flying over.

"We're going to the supermarket, not a battlefield." Rizumu rolled her eyes, only to receive deadly glares sent her way. She sighed and walked over. "Fine, fine..."

Jason, different from the others, blinked.

"But I still haven't finished my meal..." he spoke rather quietly.

"Do that later." Hiromu told him, standing up.

"'Kay."

Caeldori had to hold in a facepalm as she stood up.

"Chill, guys. We're just buying groceries. How bad can it be?" she said, only to receive the same fate as Rizumu and Jason, being glared.

" _You_ 've never gone there. It was unspeakable!" Mao replied as he shuddered.

"Meh, you guys are just overreacting." Julius commented, walking relaxedly.

"But what if it's true? This is rather worrisome..." Selena remarked anxiously, following right behind him.

Cross just kept on a neutral expression as he went.

Alisa clenched her fist in a determined way.

"I'm going to do my best, whatever happens!" she exclaimed.

Miki stayed silent as she walked. For some reason, she actually wished that her fudge rabbit could go with her, as savage as it is.

Weiss was tense, slowly walking towards them and arrived last.

Everyone took hold on one of the papers.

"On the count of three, we will simultaneously pull it out." Alabaster instructed, earning nods from them all.

"1... 2... 3!"

Everyone took a look at their results.

"... YEEESSS! FREAKING YEESSS! I GOT THE LONG ONE! WOOHOOOO!" Mao yelled out ecstatically, fist bumping the air using the hand with his paper in it.

Elysea sighed in relief, smiling at the paper she got and looked up to see how the others were.

"YEAAHHH! I'M NOT GOING! I'M NOT GOING!" Akira cheered, then paused to look at his childhood friend, "Wait, El-chan, are you going?"

She shook her head.

"No."

"YEAAAAHHH! YEAAAHHHH! WE'RE NOT GOING!"

"HA! TAKE THAT! I told you I won't lose to some lottery!" Zanardi proudly shouted to the skies, or ceiling rather.

"Stop exaggerating!" Rizumu snapped, "And stop shouting like idiots!"

A long paper was in her hand.

Caeldori shook her head at their reactions, releasing a small sigh.

"Huh," Hiromu stared at the long paper in his hand, "Guess I wouldn't know why they're so against going."

"Yeah... I'm pretty curious myself." Jason said, staring at his own paper, then to the shouting people, namely Akira, Shion, and Mao. Zanardi and Rizumu had already started another war.

"I still don't get why they're being like that just because of a supermarket." Julius commented as he raised an eyebrow. Selena smiled.

"But they seem to be happy..." she said.

Cross remained pokerfaced with a long paper in hand.

Miki sighed in relief.

"Phew... I was getting worried there..." she spoke to herself, "Their words are kinda scaring me now..."

"They kinda scared me too, a bit." Alisa admitted with a smile, surprising the light blue-haired girl by her sudden appearance beside her.

Weiss was sweating as he stared at the short paper in his trembling hand. He kept wishing that it was a dream, but knew that it was a futile wish. He anxiously looked around, trying to see if there was anyone else who got the short paper.

"So who got the short ones?" Alabaster asked aloud.

Everyone except Weiss stared at Shion, who had been trembling as he stayed stuck in his place all this time. Jason patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"Better luck next time?" he said, only making the poor boy more depressed.

Weiss was uncertain whether he should be relieved in going with Shion or not. It feels a bit intimidating...

The boy flinched when a hand was suddenly placed on his shoulder.

"Huh? You got one too, Ice? Hey, guys! Ice got the short paper!" Mao exclaimed as he waved a hand upwards, his other hand still on the boy's shoulder.

Weiss blinked.

 _'Ice? Why ice?'_ he thought.

"Alright, you poor souls... Here's the list of things we'll need." the old man placed a paper that has a list of items written in it, the paper being 10 inches long.

Weiss gaped at the length of the list, while Shion remained sulky.

.

 **~In the market~**

"-And that's the last of 'em." Shion said as he tossed a pack of noodles into the completely stuffed trolley.

Weiss let out a sigh of relief. An hour had already passed since they entered Elmart, and his feet were already sore from walking around so much.

He stared at the shopping cart and sweatdropped. There was a mountain of stuff...

"Nothing weird's happening so far... I hope it'll stay this way until we get home." Shion said as he looked around for any signs of danger, causing the shorter boy to flinch at suddenly hearing his voice.

"Hopefully... I don't want to face anything like that..." he commented anxiously, twiddling with his fingers.

"How dare you call me a midget!"

Weiss flinched once again. They spoke too soon...

The two quickly turned their heads to see a startled looking guy backing a step away from a short, helmet-wearing monster.

"A Spriggan in Elder..?" Shion mumbled with a raised eyebrow.

"I-I'm sorry, err... Spriggan Sir... I won't do that again..!" the guy apologized panickedly, raising both of his arms in defense.

The monster tapped its foot on the ground, displeased, not buying the man's apology one bit.

"First, you stepped on my foot, then you almost kicked me, and now you call me a midget?! I could still tolerate the first two, but I won't tolerate being called short!" the Spriggan hollered.

The two police members glanced at each other in confusion, then back towards the monster.

"Aren't the first two worse?" Weiss couldn't help but ask.

"I think?" Shion replied, about as puzzled as he is.

"Arghhh! You humans frustrate me!" the monster screamed as a shadow-like figure started to appear above it, destroying many things within the supermarket with a wave of shadows.

Havoc started, everyone screaming for their lives as they ran out the building.

"Looks like we have no choice... Weiss, go help everyone escape from here. Make sure they don't panic. I'll handle this." Shion commanded him as a black-colored gun materialized in his hands, a shady aura emanating from it.

"O-Okay, but where do we meet up later?" he asked, gripping the trolley's handle tightly.

"Outside the entrance! Now go!"

Following his orders, Weiss let go of the trolley and ran to the panicking citizens, entrusting their groceries' fate to the senior police.

"Hey, Shorty!" Shion shouted, the barrel of the gun starting to turn darker than before.

The Spriggan turned towards him as it glared with glowing red eyes.

"Eat this!"

A dark bullet landed directly to its head, causing it to scream in agony as the shadow-like figure held its head in a similar action as the short monster. It lashed a large shadow wave towards him in an effort to eliminate him quickly, only to be reflected with a black-colored sword having the same shady aura.

The attack's impact threw the Spriggan crashing towards the wall, causing some things to fall down from its shelves and broke the glass ones, but it quickly jumped up from its stupor and hissed at him.

"Man, you're really a pain..." the black-haired boy mumbled, the sword morphing into a spear.

.

Weiss stood near the exit as he tried to lead and calm the rushing people out as he was ordered to.

"Please stay calm as you evacuate! Don't push each other, just go in a single line!" he exclaimed, but his words fell on deaf ears. The people were in too much panic to listen.

The young police member gasped when he was pushed aside by a buff looking dude who tried to push his way outside.

"Who are you to tell us what to do, kid?! It's our lives at stake here!" he managed to yell before vanishing into the crowd of people.

The wavy-haired boy stared tremblingly at the rushing crowd, especially at where the person had been as he remained on the floor. He bit his lip, words being stuck inside his throat. Forcing the tears inside, he slowly rose upwards, staggering a little in his movements.

He only continued to watch as the citizens rushed out the supermarket.

.

"Phew..." Shion dusted his hands off after tying up the unconscious Spriggan. "Wonder how Weiss' doing? He did wait for me, right?"

The boy turned towards the trolley and dragged it towards the cashier along with the Spriggan. On arriving, he noticed that the cashierwoman was still there, cowering in fear as she sat against the wall.

"W-Who are you?" she asked, then blinked in realization, "Wait, you're with Inspector Alabaster, aren't you?" Shion nodded.

"Yeah, I just happened to be shopping here with a friend." he said and placed the groceries on the table, "Can you check these quick? He's supposed to be waiting for me outside."

"O-Oh, I see." she said, then hurried to scan the things before putting them in plastic bags.

"Can I borrow this trolley for a while? Can't carry all these with this little guy with me." he asked, pointing to the Spriggan he just caught. The woman nodded.

"Of course. Please remember to return it, though..."

After paying for the stuff, he left.

"Now where is that Weiss..?" he mumbled to himself.

He first checked the entrance where he told him to wait, but didn't find him there. Then, he checked the exit... Still nothing.

"Did he already leave..?" he thought to himself. In the end, he decided to call Alabaster just in case.

Just when he did, he was given a shout through the phone, causing him to turn the phone away from his ear.

 _(Shion?! I heard a Spriggan went loose there! What happened?! Are you guys okay?!)_ the inspector yelled.

After regaining himself, he placed the phone back to his ear, sighing exasperately.

"Sir, could you please refrain from shouting when you call? You're going to make us deaf one day, I swear..." he told him. An awkward laugh was heard through the phone.

 _(Hahaha... Wait, I told you to just call me Alabaster!)_

"It feels weird. Bear with it. Anyways, is Weiss there?"

 _(Weiss? No. Is he not with you?)_

"The citizens were panicking, so I had to ask him to calm them down. I told him to wait by the entrance, but he's not there."

 _(... *sigh* That was a bad idea, Shion.)_

"Why-"

Shion paused. Oh, right.

 _(Seems you remembered. Well, you better go find him. But since he just moved here, I'm not sure where he might have gone...)_

"... I'll have to search everywhere then."

.

Weiss sat on a park bench as he stared at the flower patch in front of him. Despite the beautiful scenery the place offers, his thoughts kept returning to the recent event.

Nothing really changed in this new place. It was just the same. And this time, it was the citizens he was supposed to protect himself...

He sighed deeply.

Well, maybe not everyone. Maybe he was just being paranoid. It was just one person after all... Only one person spoke to him that way, but... did the others think the same way?

As he kept thinking, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and turned around, only to see an unfamiliar girl standing behind the bench he was sitting on.

She kept on a straight face, dressed in a pale, pinkish-grey, flowy, mid-length jumper dress over a magenta, long-sleeved chiffon blouse, leggings having a lighter shade of her jumper dress, and wore magenta oxford shoes. She has middle-parted hair that is pale pink in color reaching her waist, and her eyes are a strange shade of gray.

Weiss looked surprised in seeing her there and stayed frozen for a few seconds. After a while of awkward silence, he was finally able to process the situation.

"I-Is there something I can help you with?" he finally asked.

She didn't speak and just pointed at the bag he placed beside him.

Weiss blinked, having suspicions.

"What's wrong..?" he asked. She didn't reply.

The boy blinked for a few more times, then finally realized that the girl can't speak.

"O-Oh... I see..."

Wondering why she pointed to his bag of all things, he opened it and found his notebook and pen inside, then remembered that he always brought those two wherever he goes. He took them out and handed them to the girl, all the while wondering how she knew.

Noticing that she was about to open the book from the first page, he quickly took them back, an embarrassed blush covering his cheeks.

"D-Don't open it from the front!" he stuttered and opened the book from the back. Upon returning the notebook, he noticed her trembling in silent laughter as she covered her mouth with a closed hand.

"... You did it on purpose, didn't you?" he said in disbelief. His accusation was confirmed when she gave him a mischievous grin.

Weiss sighed and slumped in his seat. His eyes glanced towards the girl's hand as she wrote something into the notebook.

"How did you know that I have those in my bag?" he asked out of curiosity.

The girl paused, then started to scratch her previously written words before writing out a new one. Then, she placed the pen on her lap and raised the book up for him to see.

While the boy was also curious on what she wrote before, she had already hidden the words using the scratches. Only the new words were visible.

 _Do you remember me?_

Weiss blinked at the words, then looked towards her. She merely stared at him, as if expecting for an answer.

"Have we met before?" he questioned, confused.

Hearing that, the pale pink-haired girl only gave him a smile of unfathomable meaning and returned the pen and notebook back to him before she stood up. Just as she was about to walk away, however, she turned back towards him and placed a finger against her lips, as if telling him to keep quiet, then left.

The wavy-haired boy stayed there as he fell deep in thought, but no matter how much he tried to remember, there was no one in his memories that was a mute having pale pink hair.

Not too long after, Shion arrived to where he was.

"There you are!" he exclaimed and slowly halted to a stop. He started panting as soon as he stopped and held out a hand just when Weiss was about to open his mouth to speak, worry in his eyes.

"Wait... Let me... Catch my breath..." he told him.

After a while of silence, Shion was finally able to regain himself. He let out a sigh.

"Finally... I've been searching for you everywhere! You made everyone worry, you know?" he shouted, pointing towards the wavy-haired boy who flinched at his words.

Weiss slumped down.

"I'm sorry for making you worry..." he said sadly.

"Well, just as long as you tell us where you are next time. I've called you hundreds of times and you never pick it up!" Shion kept on scolding, causing Weiss to flinch at each exclamations he did.

The taller police member sighed once again.

"Well, let's just get back. I've brought the things back to HQ before I tried to find you, so don't worry about that." he said, then turned to walk ahead of him.

His words reminded him of what made him upset back at the market, and Weiss stopped in his tracks just after walking a few steps.

Noticing that, Shion looked back towards him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"... Sorry... I was useless. I didn't manage to do my job..." he apologized, bowing his head down.

Shion sighed again, mentally noting that he's been sighing a lot that day.

"Don't worry about it. It was my fault anyway. You see, the citizens here are pretty stubborn, so no one can really talk some sense into them without a little threatening. I forgot to tell you about that tiny bit." he admitted, scratching his head.

Weiss blinked.

"Oh." he could only say.

They continued to walk in silence.

"I don't think I really like violence..." the shorter boy spoke up.

"Exactly."

Upon arriving to the headquarters, Shion paused in his steps. He sighed and looked back towards the wavy-haired boy who seemed to have a surprised look on his face.

"Okay, what is up this time?" he questioned, a bit tired now.

"... No, it's nothing." Weiss assured him, then quickly followed the black-haired boy inside the building.

He had finally remembered who the girl earlier was.

... But he still couldn't remember her name.

 **3: Phew~ Finally! I finished the chap! XD This is my best record! *^*/**

 **For those who's read Survival Game Club, Mao's pancake scene is actually a reference to one of the comic's scenes although I only used the first part and kinda changed it a little... Caeldori chopping it is from my mind XD**

 **Oh, if you're wondering... During the police's breakfast scene, their table was the long table you often see in meeting rooms or in royal families' dining rooms (I think), and the seating arrangement was:**

 **At the heads of the table: Rizumu (near the door) and Alabaster (although he didn't really join breakfast in this, and just stood at the door)**

 **At the right side (in order near Rizumu's seat): Zanardi, Shion, Hiromu, Cross, Selena, Julius, and Weiss**

 **At the left side (in order near Rizumu's seat): Elysea, Akira, Caeldori, Mao, Jason, Alisa, and Miki**

 **Welp, I have decided to make the story have arcs! So this story is gonna have multiple enemies, not just the final boss :D**

 **Some are gonna be pretty focused on one or a few characters, but I will still try to give everyone a fair amount of screentime! Still, I'm pretty bad at giving screentime for quiet OCs... QwQ I hope I can surpass this struggle! *^*/**

 **The next chapter will be the start of the Joker Arc! *w***

 **What's it about, we shall see~ ;3 #slapped XwX**

 **By the way... The next chap is going to be updated sooner than you thought! Why? Because on the 14th and 18th of June, there will be special chapters instead! So I have to at least get the beginning of the arc updated before then :DDD The quicker the better since I haven't finished my chap... Or even started it... QwQ**

 **Those special chaps are actually birthday chaps for me and my sis, gotchapanda! Our birthdays are pretty close, eh? *w***

 **I will update the special chap on the 14th, and my sis is updating the one on the 18th, which means that she is gonna write a chap! :DDDD That chap will be fully written by her, except if I'm writing some random stuff on the author's note, but story-wise... it's fully hers! XD**

 **gotchapanda: IT'S A GHOST ACCOUNT! Don't check it out, it's haunted! When was the last time I updated?!**

 **3: Sissss XD #slapped XwX**

 **Of course, the special chaps are events that happened in the story at different points in the plot. In this case, it's the blank in-between the chapters, like the previous chapter :3**

 **On another note, I have fixed some things from a few of the previous chapters, though they're not very significant so you could just see them if you want to re-read this story :D Also revamped Shion's appearance in the first chapter, but I'm sure no one's interested in seeing that, so... owo #slapped XwX**

 **Still a lot more stuff below, so keep reading! :D**

 **~Omakes~**

"It's good that we got more people and all, but... We're not really doing anything, are we?" he pointed out.

"Yeah! I'm bored!" En exclaimed with a pouty face and crossed arms.

"Give us some action or something! At least give us a free trip somewhere!" Nex exclaimed with a similar pouty face.

"Oh! Oh! I wanna go to the amusement park! The amusement parrkkk!" Chess energetically said with sparkling eyes.

Lint took out a whip out of nowhere and lashed it out towards Nex and Chess.

"ARGHHH!"

"CHEAPSKATES! BOTH OF YOU!"

.

Lint sighed.

"I told you, we're not doing anything unless our hacker finds something out. They're on the low these days, so we still haven't managed to find anything." he replied with rolled eyes, "Besides, we're not done with the introductions yet. But first... Let me take a selfie." he said and pulled his phone out, doing a duck face as he held the phone above him in an angle that could take a picture of the whole group.

"What in the world, Lint?!"

.

Seven's eyes suddenly darkened as he slapped the bouquets out from the pink-haired man's hands before Five was able to reach it.

"Get away from us, you piece of trash." he growled, glaring at the pink-haired man.

Vince gasped.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you so jealous!" he apologized, taking out another bouquet of roses and gave it towards the young man.

"Here! I shall give yours first!"

Seven was on the verge of pulling his hair bald.

.

 **~Behind the scenes~**

After the story was acted out, Shion and Weiss started to talk away from the movie set as the next settings for the next scene are being arranged.

Shion: Why do you keep flinching?!

Weiss: I'm sorry! It was supposed to be a running gag! ... I think.

.

 **Random Phone Scenes~**

 **Weiss' phone scenes~**

Once Weiss returned to his room, he finally remembered that his phone had been left there all this time.

 _'So that's why I didn't hear Shion calling me...'_ he thought, then his eyes turned towards his fudge rabbit, Wisteria, as it stared at him from atop his bed.

 _'... Why does it seem like it's judging me..'_ the boy sweatdropped.

He opened his phone to see if there are any missed messages from his teammates, only to see the number of missed calls.

Shion (252 missed calls)

Inspector Alabaster (10 missed calls)

Mao (17 missed calls)

Wisteria (?) (50 missed calls)

Alisa (5 missed calls)

Elysea (3 missed calls)

Akira (20 missed calls)

Unknown Number (?) (8 missed calls)

Selena (4 missed calls)

Weiss sweatdropped at the sheer amount of missed calls.

 _'So he_ did _call me for hundreds of times...'_

.

(12 unread messages)

Weiss blinked, seeing that he had missed a lot of messages as well. Looking at the clock, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to read them first before going to sleep.

 _From: Shion_

 _Where are you?!_

 _From: Shion_

 _Seriously, Weiss! Where in Elder are you in?!_

 _From: Mao_

 _Ice! I heard you went missing! WHERE ARE YOU, ICE?!_

 _From: Wisteria (?)_

 _(QwQ)?!_

 _\\(OAO)/!_

 _(TvT)?_

 _(TAT)?_

 _(QAQ)?!_

 _From: Unknown Number (?)_

 _Yo man! Is ma peperoni piza ready or wat?_

 _From: Unknown Number (?)_

 _Ops sorry! got da wrong number man_

 _From: Akira_

 _Ey, Wizzle! I got your number from El-chan, don't be surprised! :D_

 _Btw, your fudge rabbit's gone mad, it's spamming buttons on its phone! \\(OAO)/_

 _Oh, wait, I was actually gonna ask, where are you?! OwO_

 _From: Elysea_

 _Don't be surprised if Akira suddenly called you, I gave him your number._

 _... Actually, he already sent you a message, didn't he?_

 _From: Rizumu_

 _Hurry back, everyone's gone mad here._

 _From: Inspector Alabaster_

 _weiss! you okay?!_

 _you're not wounded? are you lost?_

 _i think there's a map there somewhere, oh wait, I'll send you a pic of the map!_

(pic is super blurry, half is covered by his finger)

 _ahh, there! i just learned to use the camera u know! it's clear enough right?_

 _From: Unknown Number (?)_

 _I heard from Mao that you're lost, are you okay?_

 _From: Unknown Number (?)_

 _Congratulations! You have won a free Elsubishi 1D10T Motorcycle! Please call back and claim your prize!_

Weiss blinked. He replied to a few before some other notifications popped up.

(2 new messages)

 _From: Unknown Number (?)_

 _lol sorry_

 _got da pizza anyway~_

 _From: Inspector Alabaster_

 _hey weiss! today's chilly, so wear your pajamas right_

 _want some hot chocolate? oops, i finished them_

 _tomorrow's gonna be a sunny morning, y'know? so be excited!_

 _wake up early, eh? there's a meeting tom afternoon! =)_

.

 **En's phone scene~**

En just returned from a guitar competition and saw some notifications in the phone he forgot in his room.

(10 messages)

 _From: 'Lil Kiddo_

 _Ennn! I saw a cockroach in the kitchen! Can you kill it or something?! HURRY UP! I WANT MY CHOCO MILK! QAQ_

 _From: The Fab Owner_

 _What a wonderful summer day!~ The flowers are blooming~ The sun is shining brightly!~ Ahh, summer~_

 _I'm at the beach having some pinacolada!~ Where are you?~ Join me and partake in this wonderful summer day~_

 _From: Buddy Cain_

 _I'm in velder right now, do you want me to buy anything?_

 _From: Sir Lint_

 _Fix the door, En. I know you did it._

 _From: Unknown Number (?)_

 _I'm sorry, I think you got the wrong number. I'm not a pizza delivery man..._

 _From: Elf Lady_

 _Roses are red, violets are blue~_

 _Summer is here, but why is it cool?~_

 _From: Mouse Guy_

 _i lost ma hat! did'tcha see it?_

 _From: Mouse Guy_

 _nevermind, found it_

 _From: Not Nex_

 _ey, this is xen, not nex lol_

 _From: Not Xen_

 _Did xen text you a weird message too?_

En whistled casually as he replied to all the messages.

 **~Thanks for reading~**


	8. gotchapanda's B-Day Chap: HQ Guarding

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: Sorry for the extremely late chapter, guys! QwQ**

 **I was supposed to update a chap before this... But I got busy, and writer's block struck me in the middle of typing the chap, and I was dragged all over the place so I can't TAT**

 **I only finished this in like 7-8 hours too, so I'm sorry for its rushedness TAT**

 **The shortness of this chapter (or lack of Weiss' appearance, actually) for my sis will be compensated by the future special chapters about Wizzie! (*^*)/ Which I have been planning for like a month already so it won't be a problem for me owo #slapped XwX**

 **This chap is a filler chapter and happened at some time in the future of the story, not in the current plotline, so Weiss might have some more bravery(?) this chap! :D**

 **And I made a short appearance (if it could be called one..? owoa) for two important OCs that would officially be appearing in the future! :3**

 **Just to clarify things up, though... The Rain from the last chap is not the Rain from TSOTSC XD It's Arivellon Avelion Zeed's OC, not mine :D Plus, the Rain from TSOTSC won't be having an appearance in this story since he's on a journey with Eddie and Ayame :3**

 **Replies~**

 **For Crosspass:**

 **gotchapanda: Somehow that sounds really sad ;v; I'm hoping people won't get the wrong idea about him... He'll definitely be braver and much, much more awesome in the future! /clenching fist with determination/**

 **Weiss: Y-yes! I certainly will! I won't disappoint the readers! /bows/**

 **gotchapanda: Please look forward to the development of this cinnamon roll! He shall turn into a... much tougher roll(?)**

 **3: Still a cinnamon roll, tho? :3**

 **gotchapanda: Uuh, I guess... But much tougher, definitely much tougher.**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **I hope that I can make the screentime equal! But it's gonna be so hard since it's mainly focused on a few people only... QwQ**

 **What is this roast-off you speak of? :D**

 **Hehe~ Thank you~ X3**

 **For Kazama Shirosawa:**

 **The poor fudge rabbit tho QwQ**

 **IF IT'S REAL, I WOULD HAVE HUGGED IT QWQ**

 **Really?! Phewww~ XDDD**

 **Still worried 'bout the next scenes including Julius since his personality is very... complex... OwO #slapped XwX**

 **Nope~ Sorry, Azu-nii-chan... They won't just let their members come and go that easily. If they did, those two OCs of yours would be questioned and possibly taken into custody for detailed questioning ouo (?) #slapped XwX**

 **Ozul: Just say that you're too lazy to change since you'll have to do much, much editing and stuff =w=**

 **3: Ssshhhh Ozzy! SSSSHHH! OWO #triple slapped XwX**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **3: Not fabulous enough! He needs to have funky hair! OwO Like... Like... A small mohawk at the middle of his head! Or a super saiyan 3 hair! Or- #burned XwX**

 **For Third Cosmic Velocity:**

 **Glad you liked them, Inee-chan! They were really fun too write as well XD**

 **My stomach... XDDD (Did ya notice that Weiss and En actually talked to each other? :D)**

 **Still thank you for the review~ And you kinda did review in the PM, btw XD**

 **I-I did?! OwO Phewwww~ I have to keep this up and keep doing my best to make them stay in character! *^*/**

 **It's a wild, lost Spriggan actually :3 That's why it's in a bad mood XD (?)**

 **I shall keep up my good work! And you're welcome?~ :DDD**

 **For Arivellon Avelion Zeed:**

 **Hohoho~ X333 Hope he's not too OOC at least..? ouo'a**

 **Welp, Rainy's pairing might take quite a long while since... Reasons that I'm not spoiling, huehue :3 #slapped XwX**

 **See ya indeed :D**

 **On to the story~**

 **~At the Police HQ in Elder~**

On a certain, random summer day while several other members were on patrol, Weiss, Akira, Mao, and Shion are in the living room with the other fudge rabbits.

Weiss was writing something into his notebook on the corner of the couch farthest away from the three boys, sometimes glancing over to see if any of them made a move to approach his seat before returning to write.

Mao was lying down on the couch with his head resting on the armrest, staring at the ceiling as he was thinking.

Shion was reading a novel on the couch near the mint-haired boy.

Akira was feeding some hungry fudge rabbits as he sat on the floor, although a few of them looked rather uncertain on eating the seemingly burnt fudge made by said person. The first victim who had eaten the suspicious meal hopped away with the fudge still in its mouth and finally ate it after it was a few meters away. It chewed on the food for a moment, widened its eyes in apparent shock, then proceeded to puke the horrible thing out from its mouth.

The poor fudge rabbit, which is actually Snoozy, Akira's own fudge rabbit, hopped towards its master and jumped repeatedly in protest.

"Fudge fudge!" it complained displeasedly, only earning a confused tilt of head from the black-haired boy.

"Ehh? What is it, Snoozy? Didn't you already have your share?" he questioned innocently, only frustrating the fudge rabbit even more. The second fudge rabbit also fell victim to the horrible fudge, vomiting the contents away and alarmed the other fudge rabbits behind it.

"Fudge fudge! FUDGE FUDGE!" Snoozy kept protesting as the other, more fortunate fudge rabbits made their escape by hopping away quietly from the boy towards Shion.

Upon seeing the many fudge rabbits going to him, Shion fell silent and slowly gazed towards the puzzled Akira.

"... Did you make it?" he simply asked.

"Well... I felt bad in leaving the cooking to you guys all the time, so I did." he admitted sheepishly, "It was no good, huh..?"

Shion was speechless as he stared at the fellow police member, then towards the many fudge rabbits. He sighed, closing the book and placed it next to him before rising up.

"Sheesh. I'll do it... I was hoping that I'd be able to rest for a while too..." he mumbled, scratching his head in exasperation at the boy's hopelessness. "You should really get some lessons on cooking before you actually try it yourself, Akira."

"Yes, Master Shiori."

"Shi- What!?"

"Yes, yes, Masters. Don't mind him, Shion. Besides, don't you have to cook something edible for these poor things?" Mao said, looking up at him from his current position. Shion rolled his eyes away from the two and started mumbling incoherently into the kitchen, the fudge rabbits following after him.

"Um... I thought that Elysea had already cooked their food before she left..?" Weiss finally spoke, placing the pen in the middle of his notebook before he looked towards the two, who stared back at him.

"Ah. Yes, well..." Akira trailed off, scratching his cheek in an awkward manner before he laughed sheepishly, "I was... hungry?"

"You ate them?!" Mao shouted in shock as he sat upright with the speed of lightning.

"Ahehe... Sorry..?"

The mint-haired boy held his head in stress, his face pale.

"I can't believe this! You flippin' ate their food and now Shion has to cook for them even when he's supposed to be resting for once! And since you're so horrible at cooking, we can't ask you to actually re-make them, which you already did and failed incredibly. Arrghh!" he rambled on quickly to the point of not lasting more than a few seconds after the two boys blinked.

"Was it really that bad..?" Weiss questioned, glancing between the two older police members.

"Bad? I'd rather eat the chief's cooking! And she can't even make a salad right!"

 **~Somewhere at the Police HQ in Hamel~**

"Tsyii!"

"Got a cold already? See? I told you to stop sleeping so late!"

"*sniff* But... *sniff* Paperwork..."

"Still doesn't mean that- Where are you signing your signature?!"

"E-Eh?"

"... I'll do the stupid paperwork. Go sleep!"

 **~Back to the Police HQ in Elder~**

"I see..?" Weiss sweatdropped.

Silence

"Um... Weiss? What's your favorite food?" Mao asked, trying to break the awkward atmosphere. Weiss flinched at the sudden question.

"H-Huh? Nothing special, I suppose..." he replied.

"What? Really? Why don't you just tell us one, at least?" Akira pouted.

"Well... If I had to choose... I'm quite fond of poultry." the wavy-haired boy said, twirling the pen between his fingers.

"Just say you like chicken, Ice." Mao chuckled at his formal way of speech. Akira suddenly widened his eyes at something, his mouth slightly agape, then smirked to himself.

"My name is not Ice..." Weiss corrected in a quiet voice.

"The young master is correct, Sir Riddel. I'm afraid that you have mistaken his name for a chunk of cold stuff." Akira suddenly spoke in a somewhat formal manner as he grinned, causing the two boys to blink questioningly at him.

"You okay? Did you hit your head or something?" Mao asked worriedly.

"Oh, no. I am perfectly fine, Sir. Perhaps you would like to apologize to the young master first?" he merely replied with a bright smile, which almost looked creepy to the two.

"Uh... Sure... Mister..?" the mint-haired boy said uncertainly, then he seemed to realize something and grinned. He walked over to the wavy-haired boy and did an elegant kneel in front of him. Weiss looked both startled and uncomfortable at that, while Akira whistled at his act.

"I humbly apologize, Sire. I was getting out of line... To atone for my wrongdoings, I would gladly accept even the death sentence from you, if you so wish." he said in a serious tone, not even looking at the boy's freaked out expression.

"T-That's okay! Uh... Could you return back to normal, guys..?" he pleaded, looking from Mao to Akira, who made no move to stop the other boy whatsoever and just whistled innocently.

"You are too gracious, Your Majesty... Please be assured that I will protect you and this kingdom with all my life." Mao replied, placing a hand against his chest as if making a pledge, then rose up and bowed elegantly.

"I will take my leave, Your Highness." he said, then walked away slowly from the still-puzzled boy. In the middle of his walk, however, Akira suddenly went in front of him.

"Ah, I see that the king has granted you his forgiveness after all." the black-haired boy said as he smiled.

"Indeed. As always, he is a very gracious and compassionate king. We are very fortunate to be blessed with such a king as he is." Mao said with a smile of his own.

Weiss fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat before slowly edging away from the couch, then rushed towards the kitchen to escape from the duo as they kept on doing their sudden drama.

"Mister Kokuei! The king has vanished from his room!"

"What..?! Are you absolutely sure that is... trustworthy information?"

"I speak no lie, Sir Knight, only the truth! The servants have told me so!"

"This is truly a dire situation! Assemble all the knights, immediately!"

"Pardon me, Sir, but I believe that is your duty as the Captain of the Knights?"

"... O-Of course I knew! I was merely asking you for assistance in doing so!"

"Ah! Is that so, Sir? I truly apologize... That was very inconsiderate of me!"

"That is alright, Sir Riddel. Now come! We must make haste!"

"Yes, Sir!"

The two soon ran, elegantly of course, to the living room's exit before the door suddenly opened and in came the rest of the Police members from their patrol.

"We're back! Did you guys get along?" Alabaster exclaimed happily.

"Sir Alabaster! This is no time for a tea party! We must retrieve His Majesty!" Mao scolded him, causing them all to stare at each other in confusion.

"Tea... Party..?" Selena and Alisa repeated, puzzled.

"What do you mean by 'His Majesty'?" Hiromu questioned with a raised eyebrow. The two boys merely ignored their statements and dragged Alabaster, Jason, Hiromu, and Julius by their arms away from the door.

"Let us hurry, Knights! We must save the king!" Mao exclaimed with sparkles in his eyes.

"For the king!" Akira exclaimed.

"For the king!" Mao repeated.

"For the king!" Alabaster suddenly exclaimed, following along as he grinned.

"What in the world is going on?!" Julius shouted. Jason shrugged.

"Dunno, but this seems interesting, so... For the king!" he exclaimed.

"You too?!" the white-haired man was in shock.

The rest of the police members who weren't dragged along either stared amusedly or confusedly at the group.

"Um... What is going on?" Elysea couldn't help but ask, being one of the confused ones.

"They've gone mad, I see." Zanardi merely said in a relaxed way as she placed her arms behind her head.

Worried about their current state of mind, Miki quickly hid behind Alisa as she took a peek from behind her.

"Did they hit their head or something? Quick! Someone call the doctor!" Alisa cried anxiously.

Cross was silent for a while before he did a thinking position.

 _'Have they gone insane? If so, then would it be dangerous for us to stay here? Actually, should I reconsider my job..?'_ he thought, glancing at the group before returning back to thinking. _'Hm...'_

"What is this avian reptillian standing in our way?! Leave this place at once!" Akira yelled, pointing in front of him despite no 'avian reptillian' actually being there.

"... That's a clock." Hiromu said, facepalming.

.

"Akira and Mao's gone nuts? Heh, they can't actually be any crazier than they are now, can they, Weiss?" Shion chuckled as he was walking towards the living room along with Weiss after he finally finished in feeding the fudge rabbits that are now playing in their private garden.

The wavy-haired boy kept hiding behind him, rather uncertain about returning back there.

"Well-" he stopped the moment they finally arrived, seeing the two along with the four dragged police members, while the others just watched near the door, shouting something towards the wall.

"Return His Ma-" Mao paused for a second before he gasped, "His Majesty! You evil fiend! Let go of the king this instant!" he shouted as he pointed towards Shion, causing everyone to stare at the two that had just returned, specifically the one at the front.

Flinching, Weiss clutched onto Shion's back as the older boy let out a frustrated sigh and massaged his temples.

"... What in El are you guys doing?!"

 **3: Finished~ XD**

 **Inspired from a random conversation I had with my sis and lil bro~ This was fun to write too *w***

 **The next chap will be up on the 18th June! Look forward to it! ;3**

 **As I said last chap, it will be fully written by my sister! It will be evident by the complete change in writing style! :D**

 **After that, the next chap will finally be the start of the Joker Arc! *^*/**

 **I'm planning on finishing something before that though, a surprise! :D**

 **Hopefully I'll be able to finish this quickly, unlike my previous promise of the Joker Arc TwT**

 **PLEASE LIFE! DON'T DISAPPOINT ME QWQ #double slapped XwX**

 **~Thanks for reading~**


	9. 3's B-Day Chap: Velder Visit

**Disclaimer: 3 does not own Elsword nor the OCs she doesn't own!**

 **3: Sis finally finished the chap just last midnight! :D**  
 **gotchapanda: Dang it, I had to work overtime. I NEED MY ESPRESSO.**  
 **3: Do you even drink espresso? Owo**  
 **gotchapanda: I wish I have an espresso machine...**  
 **3: In any case~ This chap happened after quite a long while of timeskip! :D**  
 **gotchapanda: Which explains characters having... different personalities? Especially Thirteen *looks at Thirteen intensely***  
 **Thirteen: OuO?!**  
 **3: We sadly could only update this a day after ma birthday, but hopefully this extra long chapter could make it up? QwQ *does puppy dog eyes***  
 **gotchapanda: Actually... Technically speaking, in some other countries today** _ **is**_ **the 18th, so...**  
 **3: NERDDD XDDD #slapped XwX**  
 **gotchapanda: Anyways, people... I'm taking over this chapter! *fixes glasses with a glint on eye* (gotchapanda: I DIDN'T WRITE THAT * THING!) Hopefully my writing style is okay, since it differs from the usual 3-sensei bubbly writing style.**  
 **3: SAYS THE MASTER *^***  
 **gotchapanda: DANG IT. Oh, by the way, happy birthday, 3-sensei. Hopefully it's to your... Uh... Royal liking. *tries to bow like a knight of some sort***  
 **3: Happy late birthday, Sire! Please, do not bow to me, Your Awesomeness *^* *bows like some kind of butler? Maid?***  
 **gotchapanda: I was gonna reply to that, but this is never gonna end so I'll stop here.**

 **Replies~**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **3: DON'T HARM THE GUY! HE'S JUST BEING LOYAL TO HIS... UH... MASTER! OWO**

 **... IT IS?! Owo #shock**

 **For Kazama Shirosawa:**

 **3: It's expected of my OCs *^*/ #slapped by said OCs XwX**

 **First reply: w**  
 **gotchapanda: Selena has so many nicknames oxo**  
 **I wonder what Mao would create for her, hmmm...**  
 **Mao: Hmmmm owo**

 **Second reply: YOU SHOULD'VE WRITTEN THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE! TAT I WAS CONFUZZLED QWQ**  
 **FREEDOM(?), FINALLY! XDDD**

 **For Third Cosmic Velocity:**

 **3: Hohoho~ X333**

 **Welp, at least you understood :DDD**

 **Yep, you did :D**

 **Actually, if I do what comes natural, everyone would literally go insane and the story wouldn't make any sense whatsoever XDDD #double slapped XwX**

 **On to the story~**

"It seems you've rotten to your core..." I said as I closed my eyes, slowly piercing the longsword into the sneering man's chest.

The man laughed frantically through the cringing pain he felt, shouting and swearing in his hysterical madness.

As his laughter gradually disappeared, his body dissolved into tiny, floating light orbs. The glowing blue light spiraled, slowly forming the shape of a butterfly.

I stared sadly at the butterfly.

"You could've been something else..." I raised my hand to touch the faintly glowing trails it left.

"Right..?" I questioned at the dark silence as raindrops started pouring down.

I recalled no moonlight that night.

.

.

.

It was a quite peaceful morning. The familiar sound of chirping birds outside, the sunlight as it effortlessly made its way inside my room, and the faint smell of freshly baked bread from the small bakery next-door have always managed to wake me up every day.

I yawned as I sat on the bed, still not quite awake yet. Sleepy eyes searched for the clock and blinked twice when it read 4:05 A.M. I woke up too early today. Carefully, I stood up and opened the windows. It's still a bit cold outside so I closed them and pulled the blinds as tightly as I could.

I washed up and changed into something clean. My usual cotton shirt and comfy trousers should do, it's a day off after all.

I piled a sweater when I shivered at the cold outside my room. The hallways have an open balcony on the right end; we would usually hang our clothes to dry there so it's practically almost always open. Even though I suspect the clothes over there would have been frozen by now. We actually have a separate room for all the laundry purposes but it's not very popular since it's a bit small and everything dries faster in the balcony anyway. The girls are lucky since they have a bigger space for all that stuff.

I took a pace towards the balcony, quickly shutting the glass slide door to keep the cold out. Just when I was about to turn, I realized our clothes are still outside. I swiftly gathered everything and brought them in. Stumbling under the frozen laundry and sheer amount of it, I slid the door closed with my right arm. I sighed in relief after that.

"Now what am I supposed to do with all that..." I mumbled to myself, grabbing a huge, empty laundry basket in a storage room nearby. I squint at the pile of shirts, pants, and unknown fabric sprawled on the floor.

.

.

.

I had spent the last 30 minutes hanging clothes in the laundry room before Helios passed by and glared at me when he realized I was hanging his underwear. I hanged everyone else's as well but I guess he knew that fact. I shrugged when he said he'll finish hanging them. Only his clothes are left to hang dry so I guess he would want to do that. I left after asking him if he was the last one to use the balcony, to which he didn't reply. I guess he's still very protective of his stuff.

.

.

.

The lounge room was quiet and warm. I sat alone in the middle of the L-shaped sofa, turned up the volume on the radio that En had forgotten to turn off last night, and listened as the harmonious melody of acoustic guitar filled the room. I sipped my warm chamomile tea, breathing in the calming, flowery scent that reminds me of someone so dear to my heart.

I examined my longsword as my fingers trailed little dents and visible spots of rust. I guess I should pay a little visit to Velder and meet Loque. He'd know what to do with all these.

After wiping off all the dirt, I carefully placed the longsword back into its sheath. I stood up and slowly walked towards the kitchen to wash my empty cup. Yucca was sitting on the counter, sipping her freshly made berries smoothie. Thirteen was having difficulty flipping pancakes as he took a quick glance at me, he has four pans full of pancakes.

"Oh hey, good morning, Sir!" Yucca greeted cheerfully, the smoothie formed a little purple mustache on her upper lip.

"Good morning, guys." I replied, a small laugh escaped my mouth as I watched them.

"The little one is currently preparing breakfast! Not to worry, I personally think he's doing very well." The elf said, ruffling Thirteen's brown hair.

The boy looked over to her and said as he pouted, "I'm not that little anymore, I grew one and a half millimeters since last month."

"Oh really? Such wonderful information." Yucca laughed, amused by his childish response. Still pouting, he blinked twice and looked away. Noticing this, she then shook his hand excitedly, "Congratulations for that, boy!"

I'm not sure if she's being sarcastic but I guess she's always like this. Amusingly enough, Thirteen actually looked pretty content as he stacked the pancakes, smiling. I think he didn't get the sarcasm.

.

.

.

The members don't really have breakfast, lunch, or dinner together, although there is a tight schedule for that. Most people would just grab their portion and eat wherever they like as long as they clean up after. Some of us prefer to eat in the lounge room because it's got a pretty big wooden table that fits eight people in one sitting. I'm responsible to cook breakfast and dinner for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since it's a Friday, I'm free from pots and pans but apparently not from serving.

Just when I was about to pick up the pancakes, Chess and En came running in. Yucca and Thirteen had left with a few stacks of pancakes towards the lounge room. I volunteered to bring the remaining plates because they seem too tiny to hold that much. Chess accidentally bumped me and I dropped a few fluffy pancakes. En looked horrified and hurriedly apologized, as he had been chasing Chess in what he said was a game of Morning Tag or rather, his morning exercise. Chess was frozen as his mouth dropped, his eyes staring at the poor, wasted fluffiness. They look as if they just did a terrible crime and were caught red-handed.

"It's alright. Just grab your plates and let's have breakfast." I said, chuckling at their reaction. "I'll clean them up in a while."

They nodded in unison as they offered to help clean the kitchen. I agreed to that.

In the lounge room people are already waiting for the food, hungry faces and vacant, sleepy stares all around. Vince was sitting on the dining chair, ready for breakfast. He was reading a magazine of some sort but stopped when he saw the stuff we brought. His hair casually braided to one side with a few tinier braids falling down the sides. I think he was trying out a new hairstyle for his salon.

People started crowding over the table when we placed the plates. Everyone left after taking their portions except for Yucca, who was eating chips in front of the TV and Vince who dipped his pancakes in his coffee.

After eating we walked to the kitchen to wash the plates.

.

I told him about my plan of going to Velder, I was just asking if he wanted me to bring back anything from there. Velder has a lot of stuff we don't have here, like several types of seeds, exotic ingredients, and cool antique shops.

"I couldn't just let such an exciting trip to go to waste, could I?" Vince exclaimed, roses bloomed around him as he picked one and started plucking the petals one by one, playing his own version of 'Loves me, loves me not' as he changed the words into 'Go, not go'. The last petal was a 'Not go' but I guess he disregarded it since he really wanted to go. He kept on rambling about some kind of special wine or beer; I wasn't really listening as I struggled to balance the towering piles of stacked plates.

En and Chess were already in the kitchen, mopping the floor as they grinned awkwardly towards us. They said they had heard our conversation about the trip and couldn't help but wanting to go. Three days off for all of us this weekend, I'm sure they would want to go on a little trip.

I said I didn't mind as long as they pay for their own tickets, I'm running out of ED.

.

.

.

"Oh, we're finally going to Velder!" Chess hurriedly ran towards the railway, jumping excitedly as he did so.

"Ah kids..." En rubbed his left eye as he yawned for the fifth time this morning.

"You've never been on a train before, eh?" He asked the joyful little boy, puffing up his chest as if he'd lived all his life on a train.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm so excited! I wonder how it feels like to travel that fast! I mean it goes to hundreds of kilometers per hour right?" The boy's eyes sparkled in awe; he spread his tiny arms wide and grinned at the older boy.

"Uhh yeah... Of course, I mean obviously!" En stumbled over his words as he tried to remember facts about the train he had searched on Eloogle fifteen minutes ago.

"Please stand behind the yellow line, Sir! The Windrun Train is arriving in two minutes. Its astounding maximum speed of 907 km/h leaves a sharp gust of wind around the platform; therefore we have cutting-edge protective barrier technology for safety. But still, please do mind the safety rules." An officer reprimanded En as he pulled his hat lower, covering his eyes. He quickly pulled En and Chess so that they stand behind the line.

Suddenly the yellow line started glowing and countless rays of light swiftly flew out of it, weaving into what seemed like a high quality glass barrier. The barrier blinked a few times and hardened as the train's logo popped on the glass, forming a pattern with it. The Windrun doesn't make any loud noises, only a faint hissing sound, almost like a snake. The patterns on the glass slid down as the silver train came to a stop. The barrier abruptly dispersed into thin air the moment the train stopped completely. Fresh, cold air blew into us as the door threw open. It smelled like flowers.

En was startled by the man's sudden actions, but was in total awe at what he just saw. Chess stood there, mesmerized. Vince however looked calm as he'd probably ridden on the train a few times.

.

.

.

We were somehow lucky enough to get the VIP seats since everything else was full. We booked our economy class seats in advance, but there was apparently some kind of malfunction in the system and our seats are occupied by some other people. We were given the VIP seats as a form of apology about that problem. En said those kinds of malfunctions should happen more. We all agreed to that. Despite the slight issue, we were glad to not have to cancel this trip. Although it's not a holiday season, the train is packed with people. I couldn't spot any empty seat.

Our seats are located on the front so we had to walk a bit to reach it. We were supposed to wait for the train in a separate area but since we weren't aware of that, we ended up waiting where everyone else is. I have never had a seat in the VIP area so this is all new to me too. We trailed behind the lady as she kindly led us to our seats. She kept glancing at the ticket we gave her and to the numbers on top of the seats. We walked all the way to the front and finally found our seats. The VIP area consists of a few separate rooms. There are around ten different rooms in total on this train. Each room seats four people and the seats could turn into beds. Tired passengers may as well rest on the train on long rides. The lady pointed at the room labeled '2C' and then pointed at our tickets. She made sure it's the right seats for us and bowed after we were seated comfortably inside.

"Wow, seriously?! This is the fanciest train I've ever been on!" En commented as soon as the lady left. He was pressing some buttons on the side of his seat.

"We can order food!" Chess stomped excitedly as he scanned the menu.

I laughed. "Yeah, we can. What would you like?" They're always so high on energy.

Chess squinted at the menu, uncertain of what to get.

"They're all so pricey." En gaped at the prices.

Vince flipped the menu fabulously and pointed, "These are the free ones, kids."

"What the heck! These are all free?" En questioned at no one in particular, his eyes glued to the menu.

"Whoa…" Chess was speechless, his eyes lit up at the thought.

.

"So, what's this Loque guy like?" En questioned at me, chewing his tuna sandwich as he grinned.

"Ew, don't talk while you're eating. Your tuna's all over my hamburger!" Chess frowned and pouted, hiding his burger as far away as possible.

"Aye Chess, Sir!" He saluted at the little boy sitting in front of him, still grinning as he kept on chewing. He went on to point out his pun at the boy. The little boy mumbled how the pun was confusing but grew excited when he learned what it meant. At least for them it was a good pun.

I laughed a little at their silly antics, enjoying the train ride as I watched the view outside. I had planned to visit my old friend, Loque. He's a skilled blacksmith and also a good friend of mine. It's been a while since I last saw him and I guess it's perfect timing since we have 3 days off of work. When En and Chess found out about the trip they were so excited to go I wouldn't dare say no. Vince somehow wanted to tag along as well.

.

.

.

We arrived in Velder at around six, the sky had turned a bit darker and the wind blew colder. We took a taxi to the Residential Area, his house is a bit difficult to find since it's located a bit further back and closer to the forest. The pathway to his house is squished by two bigger houses, around two meters away from each other's fences. We walked through the stone pathway as we pulled our luggage. The sound of tiny wheels rolling along the stones filled the quiet night.

The house is a tiny log cabin made out of black oak wood. A small brick chimney rests on top of it, puffs of smoke drifts away whenever the wind blows. Several patches of new wood planks make the house look a bit funny as the colors contrast the old ones. The open windows looked like two huge oranges, the warm light from inside flickers once in awhile. Tiny pots of dahlias lined the porch. An empty watering can sits beside a pile of cut wood. A broken cartwheel lay beside it, inside were all sorts of metal scraps and rusty gardening tools.

"We're here guys." I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah! Finally!" En dashed to the door and threw it open shamelessly.

"Hello! Sorry to intrude, Mister!" Chess followed along.

" _Excusez moi_!" Vince strolled in as he pulled his luggage elegantly.

I blinked twice, still processing what just happened in that quick moment. I guess I'll never really get used to that. I laughed awkwardly to myself as I pulled the luggage left outside. I stopped at the front porch and quickly glanced up to the sky. The stars are abundant and beautiful tonight. It's been a while since I've been here but nothing really changed. Well, why would I even want it to? It's always nice to have a place to return to. This familiar atmosphere, it's comforting.

.

.

.

I closed the door after making sure nothing was left outside. En was already sprawled on the sofa, totally making himself feel at home. Vince and Chess are nowhere to be seen.

"Where's everyone?" I asked En.

"Kitchen…" En mumbled through the pillow, his eyes glued to his phone.

"Hhm." I nodded and went straight to the kitchen.

I took a peek in the kitchen to see little Chess ravaging through the fridge like a hungry puppy. Vince sat on a chair with a cup on his right hand, he sips tea and flips hair with the other hand.

"Hey, you didn't tell me you'll arrive today." A hand patted my back. Loque stood there with his usual relaxed smile.

"I would've restocked the fridge you know?" He laughed a little as he looked over at the hungry boy.

"Yeah, well..." I scratched my non-itchy head, uncertain of how to explain all the ticketing mess and how we almost had to cancel the trip.

"Anyways, there's nothing for dinner tonight." He smiled apologetically, fixing the slightly crooked picture on the wall beside me.

"…I can see that." We both glanced at Chess who is now searching the cabinets, he's determined to find any trace of food available. A carton of milk and a few chocolate bars are on the table. He actually managed to find a few stuff.

I'm not sure that could feed us all though. I took a quick look at the clock. It's getting pretty late, way too late to buy anything from the market. My stomach is rumbling.

"I guess we can still visit old man Bruce, no?" Loque grinned, suggesting.

I laughed.

"Sure, why not."

.

.

.

Bruce's place was never empty at nights like these, especially on weekends. He owns Bruce's Bar & Resto that doubles as his house. The place is very comfortable and everyone there are so friendly it makes the perfect place to just enjoy the food and relax. Loque has known him for quite a long time and we have been frequent customers at his place. He's a lively and nice guy, he gives us free food sometimes. One of the reasons why we visit often.

"Are you guys sure it's okay?" Chess peeked through his bangs, pulling the oversized beige hat to cover his face.

"It'll be fine! Just act natural!" En smirked, convinced by his disguise.

After all he was the one with the idea of dressing Chess in an attempt to make him look much older. Loque said Bruce wouldn't mind as long as the kid doesn't drink, but En insisted how Chess could be 'forbidden' from the place. We finally agreed to let him do what he wanted because it's getting late and we're hungry. There's no time to argue about stuff like that.

Bruce noticed us when we were on our way to search for empty seats. Bruce is a pretty well built man. Although he's over sixty years old he looks much younger than his age. He waved at us, raised his right hand as a stop gesture, and mouthed 'just a sec'. He was talking to one of his waiters. He gave the waiter a few words and quickly ran towards us.

"Hey! It's been a while, boy!" Bruce ruffled my hair and gave me a bear hug.

I laughed. "Yeah! I got a job in Elder, I guess Loque already told you?" I looked over at him.

Bruce frowned. "He never tells me anything!"

Loque scratched his cheek. "Ah well... I thought you already knew."

"How would I know? I'm no psychic, boy!" He ruffled Loque's cream locks.

"Ah, Bruce. I haven't introduced you to my friends!" I pulled away from his bone-crushing hug.

"This is En." I patted En's back.

"Hey, old man! As you've just heard, I'm En! Nice to meet cha!" En shook Bruce's hand excitedly.

Bruce chuckled and ruffled En's red hair.

"I like your energy, boy!"

En replied with a cheeky grin.

"This little one here is Chess." I held Chess's shoulder as he nodded politely.

"Umm, nice to meet you, Sir..." Chess adjusted his crooked sunglasses as he spoke.

Bruce smiled and patted the boy's head. He lowered his head and whispered to the little boy.

"Don't worry about it. I'm the owner of this place, so you can take off those disguises."

Carefully, Chess looked up at the old man and asked, "...Really?"

Bruce nodded once with a warm smile. The boy took them off and glanced at the old man.

"Thank you, Sir." Chess bowed slightly, still a bit awkward around the stranger.

I patted Chess' shoulder, assuring him that it's fine.

"Oh, and that guy is Vince!" I pointed at Vince, already sitting fabulously at one of the empty tables nearby. He waved at us as he sparkled.

"Ah, that lively boy! He introduced himself as the meaning of life and beauty and some other things..." Bruce paused to think. "Ah, I forgot what he said. He's a funny one!" Bruce laughed.

"You've got unique friends, boy!" He nudged me.

"You have no idea." I replied, thinking about the people back at HQ.

We were all sitting comfortably when a loud grumbling noise broke the silence.

"Oh! You guys must be hungry! I had the cook prepare tonight's specials for you guys! Just order your drinks, food will be here in a sec!" Bruce left after he ruffled Vince's sparkly hair. To Vince's horror as he hates people touching his hair.

"He really likes messing people's hair doesn't he?" Chess questioned as he scanned the drink menu.

"I wonder why..." He trailed off as he flipped the paper.

"Maybe because he doesn't have hair of his own?" En snickered at his own joke.

We sweatdropped at that.

I saw a waiter approach our table hurriedly. He pulled his pen and notepad as he asked, "Boss said you are ready to order?"

"Ah, not yet..." I said, peeking at the menu En was holding.

"I am!" En pointed at a picture of an orange colored drink. "This one please!"

"One Prism Shock." The waiter scribbled on his notepad. "Would you like extra ice with that?" He asked.

"If it's free I'll take it!" En grinned.

"It's free..."

"Then yes!"

The waiter continued to scribble as he nodded a few times.

"Oh, oh! I want this one!" Chess pointed at a drink called 'Avalanche'.

"Ah, but that one contains alcohol..." The waiter looked hesitant.

"Aww... would it be possible to not add the alcohol in mine?" Chess pleaded. He read the ingredients for the drink once again.

Avalanche - Crown Royal, Kahlua, Cream

The waiter blinked twice. Not adding the alcohol would make the drink basically only fully cream.

"Umm, I would recommend Vanilla Milkshake instead. It tastes pretty similar to the Avalanche. It's a really popular drink here, it's made with our homemade vanilla ice cream. It's very smooth and refreshing." The waiter explained.

Chess pouted. "Isn't that for kids?"

We all stared at the little boy, rather amused by his words.

"Aren't _you_ a kid?" En sneered at the boy.

"You're a kid too!" Chess snapped.

"Wha-" I covered En's mouth before he finished his word.

"Either way, you're still not getting that drink." I stated.

Chess grumbled but he continued reading the menu.

"I'll take this..." The boy showed the menu towards the waiter, pointed at something on it and the waiter nodded before jotting down on his notepad.

"Mr. Waiter, I shall order your finest drink!" Vince exclaimed proudly.

"What type of drink would you like, Sir? Juices, teas, cocktails?" The waiter asked.

"Surprise me!" Vince replied, flipping his hair as dahlias bloomed around him.

"Alright, Sir!" The waiter bowed a little, giggling silently.

"What about you, Sir?" The waiter turned to me.

"I'll have a long black please." I said.

"Oh we're very sorry, Sir... Our barista called in sick today." He smiled apologetically but instantly lit up to recommend another drink.

"What about some of our signature True Velder's beer? We grow our barleys right in our very own Prosperity Road Garden! The beer's a real treat on cold nights like this. Its sweet, caramel maltiness and coffee flavors are really lovely with just enough hops to balance out the sweetness of course! I think it would be the perfect drink if you're aching for a long black!"

"Then I'll take one of that."

"Perfect." The waiter quickly scribbled it down and turned to Loque.

"And what can I get for you, Sir?" He asked as he took a step closer to Loque's seat.

"Hmm, I'll have a hot cocoa please." Loque said, placing the menu down on the table.

"Sure." The waiter left after making sure all our orders are correct.

.

A few minutes later our orders arrived along with heaps of scrumptious bread rolls and bowls of piping hot soups. One gigantic chunk of steak and a few plates of greens followed after. We finished them instantly.

"That. Is one hell of a dinner!" En whistled as he watched the piles of empty bowls and plates on the table.

"Now, I'm gonna need another drink!" En stood up to call the waiter and ordered another drink.

"You're still ordering?" Loque questioned, amazed.

"Why not?" En replied. "Everything here is just too good, man!" En added as he clenched his fists passionately.

Loque laughed, "I'm sure Bruce would be more than ecstatic to hear that!"

"I'm sure he will." I added, chuckling.

Chess hiccuped. We stared at him. Another hiccup. Then another one.

"Here drink this!" En offered the boy a rainbow colored drink.

Chess gulped in large mouthfuls of it.

"Is it gone yet?" I asked.

"Uuh... Hic!"

"...Guess not."

"Hic!"

All of sudden Chess stood up and ran towards the bathroom.

"Whoa! What's wrong Chess?!" I hurried behind him.

He covered his mouth with his right hand, the other hand on his stomach. His eyes shut as tightly as he could. Loque soon followed after.

"Is he alright?" Loque asked, evident worry in his eyes.

I didn't answer, I rubbed Chess' back to try to ease his nausea.

"Vince and En are paying. We should leave once they're done." Loque said. "Bruce said we could use his car. It's parked in the basement."

I nodded. Suddenly, Chess ran inside one of the bathrooms.

"I don't think he's feeling well at all..." I cringed as I turned to Loque.

"I agree..." Loque looked away.

A few minutes later Chess walked out of the bathroom, his head low and his shoulders slouched.

"Chess...?" I called.

"...I just puked." He whispered. "I puked rainbow..." He looked up at us and weakly smiled.

We stared at each other and told the boy, "Let's go home."

.

.

.

They sprawled across the sofa lifelessly. En passed out the moment he touched the sofa. He was sleeping like a baby, peaceful and bundled up in the blanket Loque gave him. Vince decided to stay at a nearby inn, he said he couldn't be late for an early morning meeting with some potential clients.

"Uuhh... I don't feel too good.." Chess whined as he pulled my sleeves.

"That's because you drank that rainbow cocktail." I rubbed my temples, my head is starting to hurt as well.

"They could sleep upstairs, I cleaned the room last week... Should be okay, right?" Loque suggested as he scratched his head, a bit embarassed for not cleaning them more frequently.

"I guess that's fine. Thanks, Loque." I replied as I took the little boy's coat.

Loque nodded and said, "Let me know if he needed anything else alright? I'll be in the smiths."

"Uhm..." I mumbled to myself, struggling to untie Chess' shoelaces.

.

It took a while to finally take his shoes off.

"Hey, can you stand...?" I asked.

No answer.

I looked up to see Chess already sleeping. He curled up in a ball, fitting into a small space left under En's feet. En had literally took over the sofa.

"I guess not anymore." I sighed.

Carefully, I picked him up and walked upstairs slowly, trying not to make any sound. It was dark in the corridor so I had to be very careful not to bump into anything. The only source of light was the moonlight from an open window upstairs. I managed to find the door knob and opened the door. I placed him on the bed and quietly pulled the blanket over him. I was just about to turn around to leave when a small hand grabbed my wrist.

"Don't go..." Chess sleepily mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Mr. Teddy." He added. "Where is he..?" He rubbed his eye.

"...Mr. Teddy? Who's that?" I asked the little boy, confused.

"You know... My teddy bear..." Chess squinted as he blocked the moonlight with his hands.

"Oh."

"Please get him for me. I can't sleep without him." He pleaded.

"...Sure. He's in your backpack?"

"Suitcase..." He paused. "He wears a red scarf."

I nodded, smiling a bit. He's like a little child when he acts like this. I took the plushie from his suitcase downstairs and returned back upstairs. He was sitting up straight on the bed when I opened the door. He held his head with both hands and closed his eyes as if in pain.

"Chess, you alright?" I quickly approached him.

"Uuh...Not really."

I patted his shoulder once and said, "Here's Mr. Teddy."

When he didn't reply, I took the plushie's hand and made it pat Chess's head.

"There, there. You should be fine tomorrow."

He looked up at me, his eyes worried.

"Well, maybe not tomorrow..." I laughed awkwardly. "But I promise you'll be okay again, alright?"

He stayed silent for a while before nodding.

"...Alright." He took the plushie from me and hugged it tightly.

"Thanks, Cain..."

"No problem." I replied as I walked towards the door.

"I'll sleep now..."

"Yeah, good night."

"...You'd make an awesome dad."

"What?" I turned to look at Chess. He covered himself in the blanket from head to toe, rolled up into a ball. I smiled at that. Chess is still a kid after all.

I walked quietly towards the bed and patted his head.

I lowered my head and whispered, "Good night, Chess."

.

"I'm not that old though..." I mumbled to myself as I left the room.

.

.

.

"Loque?" I called as I stepped into his private smithing area. He has his own forge of bricks and stones inside a small building near the house. Piles of metal scraps and equipments lined on the tables and the floor. He was hammering my longsword as it glows bright yellow from the heat. He examined the sword after hammering for a while. He dipped the weapon into a barrel of water and examined them some more.

"Loque." I called again.

He turned to look at me, still holding the sword with his left hand. His right hand holding his trusty hammer.

"Hey." He greeted. "Is Chess asleep already?" He placed the sword on the table near me before grabbing a towel.

"I think so." I examined the sword carefully.

"That should be fine, right?" He said, wiping his sweat with the towel.

I picked the sword up carefully and said, "Looks good."

"Should I polish it as well?" He asked.

"No need, I'll do it myself." I grinned at him.

He took a piece of cloth from a tiny shelf and threw it towards me. I wiped the sword dry.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it." I placed the sword back into its sheath carefully .

"This is free of charge, right?" I teased.

"Don't make me take money from you, cheapskate." He sneered.

We both laughed.

Morning came as the sunlight rushed into the rooms through thin curtains. I felt someone poking my cheeks as I struggled to open my eyes. The lights are blinding. A pair of scarlet eyes stared right at me.

"Yo!" En greeted as he saluted.

"Captain Blue is awake! Prepare the rations this instant!" En yelled towards the kitchen.

"Aye, Sir!" Chess replied, saluting. "But what would the Captain prefer for his breakfast?" He added before taking a large gulp from his chocolate milk.

En turned to me and asked, "What would the Captain want for breakfast?"

"...What?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes, still not quite sure what was happening.

"I don't recall we have a 'what' for breakfast, Captain!" En said. "Maybe eggs would be a better option." En paused for a while and continued, "Eggs it is! Please prepare eggs for the Captain!"

"Will do!" Chess answered and ran towards the kitchen, his milk spilled a little as he ran.

I struggled to stand as I try to balance myself. My head throbs a bit due to lack of sleep. I'll need an espresso. Or anything that could properly wake me up.

"En. Chess." I called.

"Yes, Captain!" They replied in unison.

"I have something special to show you guys." I said as I gestured for them to follow me.

.

They followed me as I walked through a small path behind the house.

"Where are we going?" Chess questioned.

"We're almost there." I simply said.

"Now, close your eyes. It's a secret location so I'd like to keep it that way."

They did as told and I guided them as they took tiny steps towards a lake.

"Just a few more steps forward..." I said, trying to hold a laugh.

.

Splash. Second splash.

.

"AAAHHH! DANG IT! IT'S FREEZING!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH! COLDDD!"

"CAIN WHYY!"

"YES, CAPTAIN! WHYY!"

I took my shirt off and jumped into the lake.

I laughed as I shivered. The freezing water is seriously no joke.

"It's fun isn't it?" I asked them.

"WHAT IS?!"

.

.

.

We met up with Vince at the train station and said goodbye to Loque. He made us breakfast and helped with the luggages. I wonder why Chess had so many extra luggages that appeared out of nowhere. Then I remembered he bought a lot of weird stuff in the station at Elder, plus six huge boxes of Velder's Cocoa Powder. He has an obsession.

"I'm still freezing cold from the water at that lake." Chess pretended to shiver as we stood on the platform, waiting for the train to arrive.

"I know right." En mimicked Chess as he stared at me.

"I wonder what that was for?" Chess questioned as he glanced at me.

"I wonder..." En trailed off, following Chess' tone.

"...That was for waking me up so suddenly." I finally said.

"Whaaat? That's so childish!" They both whined.

"Guess what? You guys aren't the only ones allowed to be childish." I nudged Vince as I grinned, amused. "Right, Vince?"

"Righto!" Vince replied as we walked towards the train that has just arrived, leaving the two young boys puzzled.

.

.

.

"WAIT FOR ME!"

"HEY, ME TOO!"

 **3: Aye aye! Chap is as fab as always, Master XD**

 **gotchapanda: *tries to chuckle like an fabulous(?) old man* Why, thank you, slave.**

 **3: MASTER, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME QWQ**

 **gotchapanda: I have not!**

 **3: LIES QWQ**

 **gotchapanda: I do not speak of lies! Of some sort.**

 **3: That one is a lie! And... lice? :3**

 **gotchapanda: *coughs awkwardly and looks away, pretending to not hear anything***

 **3: Alrighty, so the next chap will be the start of the Joker Arc! :DDD**

 **INSPIRATION PLEASE COME TO ME QWQ**

 **Inspiration: Nuuuuu *runs***

 **3: INSPIRATIONNNN QAQ *chases dramatically***

 **gotchapanda: In any case, please look forward to it! *shows cute puppies with puppy dog eyes***

 **~Thanks for reading~**


	10. Joker Arc I: Searching for Clues

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: *sneaks in verrryyy slowly...* OwO**

 **All: WHERE IN THE WORLD WERE YOUUU?!**

 **3: I'm sorrryyyy! QAQ**

 **But I'm very much alive and ain't dead, so be assured of that! QwQb**

 **Procrastination got to me after getting into high school... and I was trying to prepare a surprise for you guys *^*/**

 **Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish a solo one, but a collab one, but I'm still in the process of trying to do a solo one owo**

 **It'll apparently be done at around the end of September, so imma finally tell you guys what the surprise is once it has existed on the internet *^* *fixes glasses***

 **Look forward to it! owo/**

 **Now... To the replies~ :DDD**

 **Before that... mannn! So many OwO Thank youuuu QWQ**

 **Replies~**

 **For Guest:**

 **Ayy! Hello there! :D Hope you enjoy the story so far! X3**

 **For the questions:**

 **1\. Nahhh, no Glaive here :3 The characters are all purely OCs *^*/**

 **2\. Since question 1 is answered, I suppose this one is clear as well? :D**

 **For XenoVise:**

 **Hohoho X3**

 **Hope he's not OOC? :D**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **Thank youuu QwQ**

 **Don't worry, Nexty and Jacy! You both appear here! :D And Jacy has a cameo XD**

 **Sorry for the late updateee QWQ**

 **For Darkswordsman Kirito:**

 **Thank youuu TwT *sends virtual hugs***

 **For Sundered World Artifact:**

 **I see you changed your name again, Azu-nii-chan XD How many times is it now? XDD**

 **Yesh, I feel so old TwT**

 **Good, good, get a job first, then I'll approve :333**

 **Thank youu~~ XDDD**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **Man, Shark-san XD**

 **I see that you probably don't read my author's notes, eh? TwT**

 **That chap was written by my older sis, gotchapanda, not me XD**

 **All the credits go to her *w*/**

 **On to the story~**

 **~With the Organization side~**

Everyone was doing their own thing as always.

En was randomly singing in a very out of tune way as he played his electric guitar enthusiastically.

Cain was doing his best to stay calm in hearing En's horrible singing as he read a book, being pale.

Vince was clapping and cheering for En's sudden performance in the living room, seemingly unaffected by the horrid noise.

Nezu was reading a newspaper as he sipped a cup of tea from time to time, completely ignoring En.

Amane was drinking a glass of... red-colored drink... elegantly.

Helios was standing behind Amane as he held a tray that he recently used to carry her drink.

Chess yelled at En to get him to shut up, screamed in terror when he saw Amane drinking the red liquid, then fainted after hitting his head on the wall after being glared by Helios.

Xen was chatting with Yucca and Thirteen as he and the albino elf laughed at the jokes they did, but Thirteen eventually fell asleep on the armrest of the couch due to not understanding any of the jokes.

Nex, Alice, and Ivy are playing poker, the first two perfectly executing pokerfaces that no one was able to find out who is losing and who is not, while Ivy had an expression of pure panic.

Five and Seven seem to be talking about something.

Rain was sleeping on the couch.

This continued on until Nezu suddenly let out a gasp of shock, causing everyone, except for Chess, Thirteen, and Rain, to look towards him. Cain, however, was more than glad that En stopped his cringe-worthy performance.

"W-What is this?" the gray-haired boy mumbled.

"What's up, Nezu?" Xen asked, walking over to the boy along with Ivy and tried to see what he was surprised of, until his eyes fell on the headlines.

 **Murder at Elder Park**

 _Victim, Vish Isgud(19), was killed in the park. The body was found by a man who went to walk his dog yesterday until his dog suddenly ran ahead of him and found Mr. Isgud. According to him, they found the body in the early morning on the sidewalk. Autopsy results showed that the victim might have been hit by a blunt object on the back of his head and died within a few minutes of being attacked. Currently, no other witnesses are available._

 _"All citizens are to be alert and report to us police if you see anyone you deem suspicious. Avoid talking to strangers and walking alone, especially in quiet places." advised Inspector Alabaster shortly after arriving, "In the meantime, we will do our best to search for the culprit."_

"A murder? How? This town is usually so peaceful..." Ivy commented, frowning.

"We're still trying to find out." Lint said, showing himself up at the doorway, "Our hacker's still trying to find some information from their database, but we'll have to do a search ourselves for now. It's going to take some time."

"You mean ask around?" Alice questioned as she returned the poker cards into its case, earning a nod from him.

"Their neighborhood might be the best place. We can't exactly ask the victim's household ourselves, so we should just ask the others living there. Hopefully someone could tell us something." the director told them seriously.

"We'll split up into teams then! But first..." Nezu said, sweatdropping as he pointed towards Chess, Thirteen, and Rain, "Someone wake those three up..."

 **~With the Police~**

Some police members: Alabaster, Rizumu, and Zanardi stood at the doorstep of a house as they questioned the victim's family. Alabaster was doing the questioning while Rizumu was writing down some notes. Zanardi just stood next to them with an indifferent expression.

"So he was last seen... last night?" Alabaster repeated.

The victim's mother, a woman having light green wavy hair and blue eyes, nodded, wiping her tears away with a handkerchief.

"He was just going to a nearby store... I still can't believe it..!" she sobbed, covering her eyes with the cloth. The little girl next to her, one having brown-hair that was braided into two low braids and blue eyes, was holding in her tears.

"I-It was my fault... If I didn't tell brother that I wanted that plushie I saw there, t-then he wouldn't be..." she stopped, biting her lips as if to stop herself from crying.

Zanardi was silent for a while at seeing the girl, but then kneeled down a little to reach the girl's height and placed a hand on her head. The little girl slowly looked up towards her before her tears were wiped using her thumb.

"What's your name?" the short-haired police member asked.

"... M-Mocha..." she replied.

"Mocha, right? We'll catch that bad guy for you, so don't worry." she assured her as she gave the little girl a pat and a small smile to cheer her up. Mocha smiled a little at her attempt, although it was mostly a sad smile.

"Please do, Miss..!" she exclaimed.

Zanardi grinned, then took something out from the small bag she was carrying and placed it on the girl's hand.

"This..." the girl mumbled with widened eyes. On her hand is a light green-colored teddy bear.

"That's the one you wanted, right? He managed to get it." the short-haired girl softly said.

Mocha hesitated for a bit, then shoved the plush toy back to the police member's hand, surprising the four people there.

"N-No! I can't take it! Brother died because of this!" she shouted as her eyes started becoming watery, "I don't want it anymore!"

They became silent for a moment, the other police members looking towards the short-haired girl to see how she would react to that. Zanardi merely returned the plushie back to the girl.

"Take it. Your brother bought it for you. He would be sad if you didn't, wouldn't he? Besides... I'm sure he didn't blame you nor this teddy bear for his death." she insisted.

"But..." the little girl remained uncertain.

Her mother placed a hand on the girl's head, smiling to her although there were a few tears that formed in the corners of her eyes.

"You know how your brother is like, don't you, Mocha? How would he react if you didn't accept his gift?" the woman questioned.

"... He'd get angry, then start yelling things about being grateful..." Mocha replied quietly, staring at the teddy bear in her arms. She looked towards the inspector, Rizumu, her mother, then finally Zanardi.

"Okay... I'll take it."

Zanardi grinned, ruffling her hair affectionately.

"Good girl."

As the three left the house, the two residents waving goodbye to them, Rizumu made an amused expression towards the dark red-haired girl.

"I'm surprised that you have a soft spot for kids, Zanardi." she commented. The tomboy merely huffed, crossing her arms as they walked.

"Yeah, so? What about it?" she replied.

"Chill. I was just saying." the blue-haired girl rolled her eyes.

Alabaster sighed as the two started to glare at each other, but straightened up once he saw the other police members approaching them.

"Did you guys find any clues?" the inspector asked.

Shion shook his head.

"Nope. Everyone was clueless on our side." he told him, followed by nods from Elysea and Akira who were in his group.

"The victim was apparently on good relations with his neighbors, but other than that nothing." Jason reported, Mao nodded and Caeldori just stayed silent.

"The storekeeper said that he only bought the plush toy. Nothing else." Hiromu told him in his group's place. His team consisted of Julius and Selena, who both stayed quiet.

"I see..." Alabaster mumbled to himself, then turned towards the last group that was sent to check the park where the victim died, consisting of Cross, Alisa, Miki, and Weiss, "So, how did it go?"

"Nothing." Cross bluntly said.

"Nothing?" Alabaster narrowed his eyes, "This is getting more complicated than I thought..." he commented, frowning.

"Yeah. No witness, no trace, no suspects... The only clue I'm getting is that the culprit acted at night, but since this is the first case, we can't be too sure about that either..." Rizumu mumbled, doing a thinking pose.

"Are you saying that we could only wait for a second victim?!" Selena shouted in disbelief at her words. The dark blue-haired girl sighed.

"I didn't say that, but at this rate... We can't do anything."

"No..." Miki muttered.

"For now, we'll do patrols around town, but just in case any of you managed to find someone suspicious, we'll split into groups." Alabaster told them. They nodded.

.

 **~With the Organization side~**

Alice, Xen, Nezu, Thirteen, Five, Seven, and Chess entered a cafe. A waitress quickly approached them with a friendly smile.

"Welcome. Do you have any reservations?" she asked. Xen shook his head.

"Nope. Table for seven, please." he replied.

Once they were lead towards their seats, a round table and a c-shaped couch as well as four chairs placed on the other half of the circle, Chess immediately hopped onto the couch provided.

"My seat!" he said, glaring at them with eyes that dared them to tell him otherwise.

"Chill bro, we get it." Nezu chuckled, choosing the chair across the boy that was near the couch.

Seven and Five wordlessly sat down on the chairs next to Nezu, and Alice sat next to Five on the last of the four chairs.

Xen and Thirteen blinked at the now seated chairs and stared at Chess, who was still glaring at them with eyes that could kill.

"My. Seat." the little boy stubbornly persisted.

"Hey, hey, Chess. You can't be that selfish. That couch could fit like ten of you!" Nezu frowned, obviously displeased at the child's childish self.

This made Chess think. There was a pause, then he reluctantly nodded.

"Aw, fine... I guess I could let one of them sit with me..." he grumbled, only earning a facepalm from the light gray-haired young man as a response.

"Chess... They're _two_ people..." he mumbled frustratedly.

"Um... If you could pick the two people who will sit with you, who would you rather they be?" Five decided to ask with a heart-warming smile.

"Cain and Vince!" the boy answered.

Nezu and Xen facepalmed.

Alice sighed.

Seven rolled his eyes.

Five was speechless.

Thirteen blinked.

"Not from among all our friends, Chess... I mean the people with you now..." Five tried to tell him as she held back a sigh.

"Well... I guess I could let Thirteen sit with me..." he said, doing a thinking position, "Nezu or Xen can too."

"Then there shouldn't have been a problem with them sitting with you!" Nezu facepalmed again.

"But only under circumstances where there _ain't_ a couch!" Chess interjected.

"How could Cain handle those two..." Nezu sighed, remembering that the young man was friends with both Chess and Vince. That moment, he could only feel respect for the guy.

Xen gasped, something only Thirteen noticed since the others were too busy to persuade Chess to give up 'ownership' of the piece of furniture.

"What's wrong, Xen..?" he asked in pure curiosity.

"... I'm surprised the little kid knows the word 'circumstances'..." Xen replied, his expression showing that of amazement.

Thirteen didn't know how he should reply to that.

"Can't we just drag another chair here?" Alice asked, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous amount of time they've wasted just for Chess to give up the couch.

.

.

.

"Genius!" Xen exclaimed in pure awe.

"Aha! Why didn't I think of that before?" Nezu realized.

"We can do that?" Five questioned, blinking. Seven remained silent.

"Have you guys _ever_ been to a restaurant?!" Alice snapped.

In the end, they dragged two chairs from the nearest table and the two members were finally able to sit down.

"Um... Are you... Ready to order?" the waitress asked. She had been standing right there for a while now, sweatdropping at the group's actions.

"Oh, right! I'll have... the spiciest dish you have here!" Xen exclaimed without even looking at the menu.

"We aren't here to or- ... Fine... Green tea latte, please." Nezu grumbled after seeing Chess glaring daggers at him. The little boy nodded pleasedly at him then turned towards the still sweatdropping waitress.

"Choco milk and waffles!" Chess cheered enthusiastically.

"We can order? In that case... I'll have chamomile tea and sandwich please." Five said with a smile.

"Same thing as her." Seven simply said, pointing at Five.

"Crystal float and shortcake." Alice told the waitress after a minute of browsing through the menu.

After writing down all their orders, the waitress turned towards Thirteen who was taking quite a while to choose.

"... Orange juice, please." he finally said.

Nodding, the waitress wrote that down.

"Ah, before that... Do you have any info about the rumors these days?" Xen decided to bluntly ask, smiling politely as he did so.

"Rumors... You mean about that man who died in the park?" the waitress asked for confirmation, earning a nod. She frowned a little as she tried to remember anything about it, all the while wondering why they would need to know such a thing.

"Something not from the news, please, we already know that." Nezu added, hoping that they would be able to find something there.

The waitress thought about it for a moment before she spoke up.

"I've only heard it from my friends, but they said that there was a witness," this made them perk their ears up, "He or she might know more about it than me."

"That's a start! You know who it is?" Chess asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately, no."

"Well, that's definitely useless." Seven snickered humorlessly. Five frowned at him.

"Seven!" she reprimanded, then turned towards the waitress, "Sorry for his behavior..." she bowed apologetically. The waitress looked surprised from her actions.

"Oh, that's alright! As long as he doesn't start a fuss, it's all okay." she assured her.

Hearing this, both Nezu and Alice shot a side glance towards the greyish, black-haired boy.

'You heard that, Seven?' Nezu's stare seemed to say.

'Do. Not. Start. A. Fuss.' Alice glared.

Seven rolled his eyes.

.

En, Cain, Amane, Helios, and Yucca decided to go to an informant, courtesy of Yucca, who claimed to know the guy.

"Sir Ornell! Good afternoon!" she cheerfully greeted the moment they got inside.

The informant, a big man who seemed to be around middle-aged or more, has a sharp looking expression, scars lacing down his face and muscly arms.

" _This_ guy's the informant?" En whispered to Cain, his eyes wide with shock, "He looks like _he_ could kill!"

"You there!" Ornell suddenly spoke aloud, startling the two of them, "I _know_ that look."

"W-What?" the dark red-haired young man asked nervously under the pressure of his sharp stare.

"You don't need to be jealous."

"... _What_?!"

"All jokes aside," the informant turned towards Yucca, who was smiling at his usual sense of humor, "You're here for the info on the recent murder, aren't you?"

"Yes! Sharp as always, Sir!" the albino elf chirped, impressed.

"I'm still trying to find out about it," the man said as he crossed his arms, "I found a lead, but the stubborn guy won't tell me anything."

"A lead?" Amane repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, a witness."

"There's a witness?" Cain looked surprised. The informant nodded.

"You might want to try talking to him. His name is Marvil Soi, and he lives at the furthest house in the Elderlit District, number 273, to be exact. His house is the only one with a purple roof." Ornell informed them.

"You couldn't get anything out of him?" Helios questioned.

"Sadly, I can't. It's like he's scared of something... I wonder what..." he did a thinking pose as he hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, I don't know... It's not like you look intimidating or anything..." En whistled innocently.

"Young man, there is no need to be jealous."

"I'm _not_!" the dark red-haired young man practically screeched. "That's it! I'm getting ouuuut! Out I sayy! Ouuuttt-"

The moment he opened the door, he found himself face to face with a certain long, blue-haired girl wearing the official El Officer uniform.

Her nameplate says 'Rizumu'.

.

Nex, Rain, and Ivy were sent to scout the park. The place was actually made to be off-limits, but no one was watching and they could still pass through anyway.

The three stood at the area where the murder took place, right in front of a bench. Tape was drawn into the form of how the body had looked when it was found, the blood still on the head part.

Ivy winced a little at the gruesome sight.

"Poor guy." he mumbled in sympathy. He definitely didn't want to be in this guy's shoes. It looked awfully painful.

"A direct hit on the back of his head... I'd say once or twice. Seeing that there's nothing on the ground that pointed out what the weapon is, I think the weapon's a strong blunt object. A sword or something of the likes would bring out more blood since it'd cut his head in half..." Nex drawled on with a thoughtful expression.

"You seem well-informed about this." Rain pointed out, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Let's just say that I had some experience on this in the past."

"A blunt object, huh..." Ivy muttered, "The only things that I could think of are a bat, a hammer, a mace... maybe a thornless flail, but I doubt anyone would use that."

"The common ones would be a bat or a hammer, then. I don't think I've seen many cases using a mace." Nex commented, his eyebrows scrunching up as he tried to think.

"Simply put, he was hit with a blunt object. That's what matters. I still don't see why he would be killed of all people." Rain spoke up, frowning, "Unless he's just unlucky enough to be the victim of a psychopathic murderer."

"I believe that's the case." Nex nodded in agreement.

"Could it be the other way around, though? Like, he was the murderer and was just killed due to self-defense?" Ivy suggested, raising both of his arms upon seeing the two's disbelieved stares. "Hey, in _my_ defense, that happens!"

Rain shook his head, in acceptance or denial, it is unknown.

"I believe we're finished here. We should go before the police arrives." he told them, earning nods in reply.

As if fate wouldn't have any of it, they heard someone call out behind them.

"Sorry, but this place is off-limits. Please kindly state out your names and-" the voice suddenly paused, "... Nex?"

Realizing that the voice was in fact very familiar, Nex turned around. His eyes widened for a split second, but then it turned into a glare.

"Jason..." he growled.

.

 **~Remakes~**

"N-Nothing? No trace? No bloody footprints? Not even a freaking strand of hair?" the inspector questioned surprisedly, earning weird looks from most of them.

"What would a strand of hair do?" Alisa asked back curiously.

"Well, we could check for the DNA... or hair color..." the old man replied, blinking in confusion at their disbelieved faces. He made a childish pout.

"HEY! Even if that'll take much time, we would still be able to find the culprit!" he defended.

"Still impossible, Inspector. It's a _park_. It could be _anyone's_ hair." Hiromu stated as a matter of fact, rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Riiight! I knew that! Hohoho..." the inspector said, laughing awkwardly as he tried to avoid some of their judging gazes.

.

"Welcome. Do you have any reservations?" he asked. Xen shook his head.

"Nope. Table for seven, please." he replied.

Once they were lead towards their seats, a round table and a c-shaped couch as well as four chairs placed on the other half of the circle, Xen immediately walked back towards the exit.

"You're on your own now, Seven. Do your duty!" he exclaimed, doing a salute towards the fellow organization member before he made his way outside.

He got smacked before he even made it to the door.

.

"A direct hit on the back of his head... I'd say once or twice. Seeing that there's nothing on the ground that pointed out what the weapon is, I think the weapon's a strong blunt object. A sword or something of the likes would bring out more blood since it'd cut his head in half..." Nex drawled on with a thoughtful expression.

"You seem well-informed about this." Rain pointed out, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Of course. I like to read detective novels." Nex said with a straight face.

"... Oh. Didn't expect that."

"Excuse me?!"

.

"You seem well-informed about this." Rain pointed out, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Let's just say that I had some experience on this in the past."

"You kill people with strong blunt objects?!" Ivy gasped.

"... Dude. Seriously?" Nex facepalmed.

.

"A blunt object, huh..." Ivy muttered, "The only things that I could think of are a bat, a hammer, a mace... Maybe a hippo... An elephant... I don't know, anything can work if you're strong enough."

"Did that glass of water make you drunk?" Rain questioned, raising an eyebrow.

.

 **~Phone Scenes~ (3: Fun stuff to do~ X3)**

 **~Xen's Phone Scenes~**

Upon returning from his trip with Nex and Nezu, Xen had to gape in shock at the sheer amount of messages he received during his leave.

(16 messages)

 _From: Chess_

 _Xeennnnn! There's a cockroach in the kitchennn! Kill it pleaseee! I wanna drink my choco milk in peaceee! TWT_

 _From: Nezu_

 _forgot ma boba tea arghh_

 _tell the others i'll be away for a bit kay?_

 _From: Thirteen_

 _Helloxen_

 _From: Yucca_

 _Thirteen's still learning how to use the phone. Don't mind it too much~_

 _From: Nex_

 _Xen... quit sending those weird messages..._

 _From: Alice_

 _I'm not amused Xen. Not amused._

 _From: En_

 _is dis some kind of new trend? imma follow ur steps buddy!_

 _From: Lint_

 _Xen. Stop influencing En. It's not pleasant. He keeps spamming 'im en, not xen. and xen's not nex' on everyone's phones._

 _Next time, I'm grounding you two._

 _From: Vince_

 _My friend, you and En have both inspired me~_

 _From: Ivy_

 _what is this madness?! is this like a thing here?! why?! pawsjoghowrihjawjhpaehkjpa_

 _From: 5_

 _Er... Seven's getting annoyed... Don't send any more messages to him, please..?_

 _From: Rain_

 _shut the el up. im trying to sleep_

 _From: Cain_

 _Xen... what did you tell vince and en this time...?_

 _From: Chess_

 _I don't care if you're Nex or En or Vince or whooo! JUST KILL THIS COCKROACH ALREADYYYY QAQ_

 _From: Lint_

 _Now Vince? Do you know how painful it is to see his message? 'Such is the fascination of life's wonders' blah blah. You three are grounded._

 _From: Alice_

 _You're dead the next time I see you._

Xen gulped from seeing all the messages and made a mental note to just avoid practically everyone at the moment...

 **~Caeldori's Phone Scenes~**

After a long day of patrol, Caeldori decided to check her phone before sleeping. The amount of messages she got, however, exceeded her expectations.

(7 messages)

 _From: Jason_

 _Sir Alabaster is searching for you, Miss Caeldori. He's in the living room._

 _From: Inspector Alabaster_

 _yo cael! just wanted to remind u that we have a meeting tom!_

 _dont sleep late so you wont wake up late, u hear me?_

 _remember to close the windows to avoid burglars!_

 _and dont be shy to eat if you get hungry just before sleeping! zana did that before and got sick!_

 _From: Zanardi_

 _don't listen to the old man! he's nuts! nuts i tell you, NUTS!_

 _From: Annoying Kid_

 _Yo, Kelly! Kelly right? Or Sally? Mally? Dilly-dally?_

 _... What's your name again?_

 _Oh wait, Alabaster was searching for you!_

 _Double wait, he's already told you hasn't he? Oh weellll_

 _From: Elysea_

 _Tomorrow's your cooking duty, Caeldori. Just in case you forgot._

 _From: Selena_

 _excuse me, caeldori. have you seen julius' fudge rabbit? he kind of scared it away..._

 _From: Alisa_

 _Selena and I are trying to find julius' fr! Tell us if you saw it!_

Caeldori sighed and replied to all the messages. Although she was very tempted to block Mao by now, Alabaster's not letting her due to work purposes or something...

... Whatever, blocked.

 **3: Phew~ After months... I finally finished thiissss QWQ**

 **Sorry for the pretty short chapter, tho! I promise that the next one is most likely gonna long :D**

 **Cuz it's when the showdown starts *u* *fixes glasses***

 **Random note: Half of the story was written months before I started procrastinating, so the other half of it might seem a little different from usual XD From the part where the waitress wrote Thirteen's orange juice order down and onwards, is written just this morning *^*/**

 **A new record of speed for meee XD**

 **On another note, I shall update the next chapter speedily *^***

 **I. Must. Catch. Uppp OWO *rushes***

 **~Thanks for reading~**


	11. Joker Arc II: Unresolved Mystery

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: *sneaks in verrryyyy slowwwlyyyy* OvO**

 **All: WHERE WERE YOU, 3?!**

 **3: Eep! OwO I-I can explain! I can explain!**

 **All: *death glares***

 **3: W-Well, procrastination got me ovo #slapped. I-I mean I was training my writing skills by writing random OC drabbles! OVO #slapped.**

 **Yeah… Also cuz I kind of made some weird rule to myself that I wouldn't update unless I've finished that surprise I told you guys some time ago ouo Actually, the surprise was already done but I don't think it's legit enough so I'm making another one again XD #double slapped XwX**

 **No worries, I shall not be doing that weird rule anymore. Thus, I'm trying to keep up a good update pace :D**

 **Ahehehehehe #slapped XwX**

 **Now to the replies~ (ahh, I miss these horizontal lines~)  
**

 **Replies~**

* * *

 **For Void Highlord Prime:  
**

 **Lol Void-chan XD**

 **Review still accepted *v*/**

* * *

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **H-Hopefully this chapter is worth the wait too..? ouo'a #slapped XwX**

 **I try to make this a deep story XD Practicing to make one... *v*/**

 **Thank you~~ XD**

* * *

 **For Light15XV:**

 **WELCOME BACK, LIGHT-CHAN XD Though I'm supposed to say that like a year ago... hehe... owo #slapped XwX**

 **Yush, and I shall continue to write! XD 'Tis my life-calling *v***

 **Still tho... *randomly hugs***

* * *

 **For Horizon Reaper:**

 **Hehe ovo #slapped XwX**

 **I have to imagine and think of what scenes someone would actually speak in before they speak. Since, well... Not everyone talks in every situation, so making everyone have equal screentime is kinda tough DX**

 **I'm all chill and fancy(?) #wat**

 **XD**

* * *

 **For KazeNoKishiX:**

 **HEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHHE *V* #slapped XwX**

 **Hopefully it'll be a legit murder case, haha~ XD I worry owo**

 **Lol poor Hiro-chan XD *pats head***

 **This advertising XD Such wall of text XwX**

 **Are other OC-story authors even reading this story tho? *gasps* OwO**

 **I WANT TO SEE THEM OWO**

* * *

 **For Vindictive Specter:**

 **NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AZU-NII-CHANNNNN TAT**

 **QwQ**

* * *

 **For Not Crosspass:**

 **You ARE Crosspass :D**

 **Ahehehe ovo**

 **This is exactly why I worry on writing murder cases ovo**

 **Oh well~~ #double slapped XwX**

 **I shall try to make it... uhh... more mysterious? XD**

 **Here's the next chapter~ :3**

* * *

 **For Arivellon Avelion Zeed:**

 **Glad you like it~ XD**

 **... OwO**

 **AS A GRANDMOTHER(#what) I HEREBY SAY THAT YOU SHOULD TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH! OWO**

 **HOW DARE YOU BE SICK ON MEEEEEE! *shakes shoulders* #slapped XwX**

 **So Rain is a tsundere *nods to self***

 **Aye~ Here's the next chapter~ :3**

* * *

 **On to the story~**

* * *

En blinked once, then hurriedly took a step back as he tried to not stumble himself. That was not a pleasant way to encounter someone.

"U-Uhh, sorry, Miss!" he stammered and hurriedly returned back to where his friends are.

Rizumu didn't look amused, but didn't comment on it as she entered the room with Alabaster and Zanardi in tow.

"Yo, Nell! We came for some clues on the murder! You got any?" the inspector asked cheerfully.

"You're just in luck, my friend." Ornell told him, nodding. While the two chatted with each other, most of the organization members stood awkwardly in their place, some trying to avoid the gazes of the other two police members.

The atmosphere was stiff as the exchange went on. Neither of them dared to make a sound, even En himself.

Only after the three left did they manage to finally relax and take in a few deep breaths, the tense atmosphere leaving them.

"We're still going to the Elderlit District?" Amane asked, earning a nod from Yucca.

"Why, yes. We need clues after all." she replied with a small smile, "We'll just wait until they're done."

"I hope they won't notice us. Somehow, I don't feel comfortable around them..." En mumbled, scratching his head.

"Cause they're police officers?" Cain questioned.

"Well, that too, but it's more of fear than being intimidated... I don't know, it's frustrating!" the dark red-haired young man sighed, "Maybe it's just me."

"Maybe because you're a mindless idiot who loves getting into trouble." Helios rolled his eyes, "I felt nothing."

"Now, now~" Yucca chuckled as she tried to change the topic, "We better find the others, no?~"

"I want to go check up on Vince, just in case he found something else." Cain added, "The more the better."

Helios sighed, appearing reluctant, and Amane nodded uncomfortably.

En remained silent.

* * *

Jason narrowed his eyes at seeing the red-haired organization member.

"Long time no see, Mr. Nex... I am _extremely_ ecstatic to see you again." he drawled sarcastically.

"Why, I see that you look as ridiculous as always, _Jacy_. Still going around being a wannabe noble? Oh, wait. Wannabe hero?" Nex jeered.

Lightning flashed between the two's eyes, and all that Ivy and Rain could do was sweatdrop or sigh.

"Your acquaintance?" Ivy asked, mentally wondering what happened between the two to be on such offensive terms.

"Just someone I had the misfortune of knowing..." Nex's eye twitched, "A very annoying someone."

"That's my line. Must you ruin my day by appearing before my eyes?" Jason growled, "Unlike a certain someone, I have duties to fulfill."

Ivy blinked at their seemingly endless quarrel, while Rain was doing his best to not facepalm right then and there.

"Duties? Hah! More like futilities! What are you doing standing here like an idiot?" Nex spat, rolling his eyes. Jason's eye twitched at his insulting words.

"I was _assigned_ to, and it's not futile at all, considering that someone as shameless as you actually dared to step foot here and disregard the warning signs..." he glared, taking a glance at the entrance to the park where barriers had been put.

"Meh. Obviously you didn't do a good job, then. Besides, you're told to take watch _alone_? Just how lonely can you be?" the red-haired man smirked.

"Who said I was?" Jason raised an eyebrow. As if on cue, two other police members exited the small office building behind them, wearing the same El Officer uniform Jason wore.

"Jason! The inspector's group found clues regarding the murder and- Who are these people?" Mao paused upon seeing the three.

"Ah, we just want to help out in solving the murder!" Ivy smiled.

"No." Caeldori rejected, causing Ivy to widen his eyes, "You three are citizens, are you not? We can't afford to get people into danger. This case is much more dangerous than you think."

"But..!" the black-haired boy tried to say only to be interrupted once more.

"We're sorry, but it's in the rules... Please understand." Mao apologetically said with a frown.

"And you, Jason," Caeldori spoke, glaring at the older police member, "Rule no. 5, don't put your personal feelings into any job whatsoever. Just because you hate him does not mean that you can hurt him. Put that sword down. Now."

Jason clicked his tongue at the girl's sharp observation and let go of his katana, letting his hand fall down to his side.

"Good," Caeldori nodded in satisfaction, then turned towards the organization members, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to leave. This place is off-limits."

"And if we don't want to?" Nex raised an eyebrow. Caeldori did the same.

"Then I will be inclined to believe that you have some connection to the murder. Are you?" she questioned with a threatening tone.

"Oh, fine." the red-haired man rolled his eyes, "Let's go, guys."

Ivy nodded sadly and followed behind him.

Rain shot a glance at the police officers, then rushed to join the other two.

Once they were far enough to not hear their voices, Mao did an amused whistle.

"Woahh. Kelly is scary!" he remarked. He realized his mistake too late, flinching at the female police member's murderous glare towards him and took a few steps back.

Caeldori sighed and massaged her temples, deciding to not comment on that right now.

"We better get going. Alabaster called us." she told them, mostly to Jason.

"Where?" Jason asked.

"Elderlit District."

* * *

 **~Organization side~**

Everyone, except Vince and Lint, regrouped outside the witness' house. They watched the Police slowly leave, bowing to a thin man with hair that was starting to turn gray, a sign of his many years.

They nodded to each other, and once the Police members were out of their sights, they immediately walked to the doorstep.

"Sir!" Ivy called aloud, causing him to pause in his trails and turn around. "We heard you saw the murderer last night?"

"Yeah, I saw 'im alright." Marvil replied, his expression anything but the word 'happy'. "So whaddya want?"

"We need info on the murder!" Xen exclaimed, smiling in a friendly way, "Can you tell us too, Mister?"

"No."

"What?! Why?!"

"What business does a group of children like you have with a murder?" he growled at them, "Go home. This isn't a game."

"We're not a 'group of children'! We're investigating this too!" Ivy snapped.

"And what happens if you die from sticking your nose into someone else's business like this? Leave it to the cops, they'll handle everything." he shook his head, "If you want to play hero, do it on a lighter case."

Nex tightened his fists, mentally thinking of ways he could strangle the guy for his stubbornness. Suddenly, he got an idea.

"Chess, Thirteen, Yucca." he whispered to the three, gesturing for them to come over. The three looked at each other before doing so, huddling together where Marvil couldn't see them. He whispered his plan to them, each showing different reactions.

"Eh?! A-Are you sure I could pull that off?" Chess asked anxiously, glancing repeatedly from him to the witness.

Thirteen looked lost.

"I'm positive on this. It will work! Trust me!" the red-headed man grinned at them, doing a thumbs up for reassurance, "You though, Thirteen..."

Nex suddenly pulled his hood up and put a random teddy bear he got out of nowhere into his arms.

"Just go and hug this in front of him. That'd be good enough."

Thirteen nodded, still puzzled.

Yucca chuckled amusedly.

"I have no problems with this. It does seem interesting." she remarked.

"Then it's settled! Go all out there!" Nex grinned.

With his cue, and Yucca in the lead, the three began to walk over to the grown-up man who was still refusing their pleads.

"I said no and that's final! Geez... Stubborn kids..." Marvil massaged his temples, "Look, if you're still persistent on this

I'll go and call the cops so that they could tell you themselves."

"But... But... We want you to tell it yourself..." Yucca started, her eyes watering as she did her best puppy dog eyes and clasped her hands together, "Please, mister..?"

"What in El..?" Marvil widened his eyes, hesitance starting to show in his eyes, "Look, this is too dangerous for you kids."

"We only want to ask you this once, mister... Please? We won't do anything dangerous." Chess added, his eyes filled with hope as he looked into the grown-up's eyes.

The older man had to take a step back. The two's begging eyes were just too much for him. He turned to get his gaze away from them only to accidentally look at Thirteen, who was hugging the teddy bear just like he was told to.

Thirteen looked towards him only with the movement of his eyes, making him seem like he was staring at him with pleading eyes as well. He was also in the perfect position for the light to shine in his eyes.

Marvil took a deep frustrated breath and slowly released it.

"Okay, fine. You guys win. I'll tell you what I know." he grumbled.

"Yes!" the older organization members high-fived each other, some with grins while the rest were forced to high-five with a poker face.

"Thank you, Mister!" Yucca beamed, still keeping up her childish act.

"Yippee!" Chess cheered, jumping happily in his place. Mentally though, he was not pleased.

Marvil sighed and massaged his temples.

"I don't know what you kids are after, but don't do anything dangerous." He warned them. " _Can you promise me that?!_ "

"Yes, sir!" Several of them did a salute and others flinched at his sudden rise of voice.

"Good." he nodded in satisfaction, "Come into the house. I'll tell you what I know."

Once they sat in a circle in the living room, the middle-aged man took a deep breath and began his tale.

"That night, I was walking home from my pal's house." he said, "I brought a watch, so I knew the time. It was around eleven past thirty-eight."

"Eleven past thirty-eight…" Five jotted it down.

"Were you alone then?" Rain questioned with narrowed eyebrows. He nodded.

"I was." He confirmed. "It was when I got near the park that I heard a frightening smack. I raced there as fast as I could, but the killer immediately escaped. The best I saw was just a silhouette."

"Two questions," Alice raised two cards in between her fingers, "First, how long did it take for you to arrive?"

"I'd say in less than a minute. It wasn't very far."

"Okay." Alice took down one of the cards. "Second, how did the silhouette look like?"

Marvil scratched his head.

"It's not certain, but he or she was pretty short. Probably around those three kids' height." He pointed towards Chess, Yucca, and Thirteen. "And fast too. It didn't even take another second for him or her to vanish."

"So the murderer might be a child?" Selena pursed her lips, "I'm not sure what I should feel about that…"

"We can't dismiss the possibility that it can be a grown-up as well," Nex pointed out to her, "For all we know, it might be an ability of theirs. Maybe even a monster. Besides, kids aren't the only ones who're short."

"That's what I thought." Marvil nodded.

"Anything else you know, Mister?" Yucca innocently asked with a tilt of her head.

"The murder weapon was a hammer." He confidently said, "A big one too. It was almost as big as the wielder itself. But it was made out of mana. It vanished just when he ran, so it'd be impossible to search for it."

The organization members all began to look at each other.

"Anyone you know who fights with a giant hammer?" En eyed them curiously. Cain shook his head. Vince flicked his hair.

"A hammer is so unelegant!~" he complained.

"I know no one like that." Chess spoke up meekly. "Sorry, I'm not very sociable…"

"I just moved here actually," Nezu said, "from Ruben. So I only know you guys."

"There were a handful of mercenaries I know that uses one." Amane admitted. They all looked at her. "But it was not a magical ability at all. Isn't that right, Helios?"

"Indeed, Lady Amane. I had even accompanied them to the blacksmith a few times." Helios agreed. "Such an ability is… Quite rare."

"No hammers here, but plenty do have nails." Xen grinned and began to laugh at his own joke. Rain and Seven rolled their eyes.

"What about you, little one?" Yucca asked Thirteen. She figured he wouldn't speak up if no one told him to.

"… There's a hammer like that?" he questioned back.

"Well, I guess he doesn't know." She remarked amusedly.

Nex seemed to be in thought. He was silent for a few moments as the others conversed.

"Something wrong, Nex?" Cain curiously asked.

"Oh, it's nothing." he smiled reassuringly, "I just remembered that there used to be a similar case as this."

Marvil widened his eyes.

"There was?" he repeated. The red-head nodded.

"Around three years ago, I think, there was a mass murder in Velder." Nex explained, "The victims were from a noble family. Every single family member was ruthlessly killed with a strike on their head using a blunt object."

"That…" Ivy widened his eyes, catching up on what he meant.

"There wasn't much info disclosed to the public, but what we do know is that the suspect is still on the loose somewhere. Even today…"

Nezu shuddered, Chess trembled, and Five winced.

"Anyhow, the case is really similar. So I'm thinking that it has something to do with this string of murders going on." he finished.

Alice stayed quiet all this time as she switched the cards floating around her in the air. She took one card in between her fingers and flipped it open.

' _The Hanged Man…'_ she thought, pursing her lips, _'represents the individual's inability to take action… Or renewal in the face of disaster…'_

She observed the group, her eyes focused on a particular person whose fortune was given.

' _What could it possibly mean..?'_

* * *

Once the organization members were gone, Marvil rose up from his seat and stretched his arms upwards.

"Hahh... Why are they all so interested on that murder anyway? Big deal..." he mumbled, shaking his head. "Now what was I gonna do, again? Oh, right, I was gonna buy coffee."

He exited his house and locked the door, making his way to the steps.

"You're spoiling things." A voice suddenly said from behind him, causing him to flinch in both surprise and fear.

As soon as he heard that, his arm was tugged harshly behind him, and he could feel warm breaths on his ear as someone whispered to him, sending chills down his spine.

"You're no fun either, huh?"

SMACK

... And he fell down.

* * *

The next morning, both sides were startled at seeing that day's headline news.

 **Serial Killing on the Case?**

 _Another murder has happened in Elder, this time at Elderlit District. The victim, Marvil Soi (62), was found near his doorstep by a neighbor who happened to be passing by. His head appeared to have hit the steps, but autopsy results showed that his head had been struck twice. One was thought to be by the murderer, the other, the steps._

* * *

 **3: Well then ouo #slapped XwX**

 **By the way, I've already typed up the first half of the chapter months ago, so don't be surprised if there's a sudden change of writing style in the middle of it :D Exactly… at the time they went to Marvil's house.**

 **Ozul: If there is any =u=**

 **3: Shaddap Ozzy! OWO**

 **I apologize if your OC wasn't seen in this chapter. I kind of had trouble keeping up with their speeches cuz I have to consider their personalities as well ouo**

 **And after much thinking, I've realized that the main plotline is actually pretty long, and thus I will continue with that after finishing this arc. Other arcs sadly cannot be written, but hopefully I can write them as special chapters instead when inspiration strikes ovo #slapped XwX**

 **Or turn them into side plots ouo #double slapped XwX**

 **The next chapter will majorly be about the Police side!**

* * *

 **~Amane's (and Helios?) Phone Scenes~**

Amane and Helios just returned from an errand of theirs.

"Hm? Oh, looks like I forgot to bring my phone along." She remarked as she picked up her phone from her bedside table.

The moment she turned it on, the two became overwhelmed at the sheer amount of messages they got.

 _You have 12 messages._

 _From: N_ (Nezu)

 _hey! why did u guys leave me?!_

 _From: Ccl_ (Chess)

 _AMANEE! HELIOOS! HELP! COCKROAACHHH!_

 _From: Na_ (Nex)

 _Warning: xen's sending weird messages_

 _From: Na_

 _Oh, vince's joining too. And en._

 _From: Xa_ (Xen)

 _eyyy! aye or nay? why dont u sayyy? this is very heyyy_

 _From: Vvvdl_ (Vince)

 _Summery days, shimmery ways~_

 _Flipping flapping of birdies says~_

 _Ahh, rhyming is fun!~_

 _From: Eh_ (3: Lol XD) (En)

 _judge our rhymin dudes!_

 _we're competing on whos best_

 _oh wait i'll send it_

 _From: Eh_

 _good cake good sake_

 _sparrows win first take_

 _lakes and beetles and tortilla eagles_

 _better than good 'ol burrito shake_

 _From: A_ (Alice)

 _Somebody shut those three…_

 _From: Yr_ (Yucca)

 _Those rhymes sounded great, weren't they?~_

 _I'm still having trouble deciding… Have you?_

 _From: Ccl_

 _I wanna join the fun too!_

 _Is this good enough?_

 _From: Ccl_

 _Arrows darting along the wall_

 _Arrows darting make a great fall_

 _All the fishes and all the plaices_

 _Couldn't eat all the woody slices_

Amane stared at the texts for a moment.

"Helios?"

"Yes, Lady Amane?"

"Which rhyme do you think is better?"

"… Pardon?"

* * *

 **~Jason's Phone Scenes~**

Jason's phone started to ring on his bedside table. Still wanting to sleep, he tried to ignore the noise and rolled to the other side of the bed.

There were footsteps outside his room, but he figured that it was probably someone passing by from how brief it is.

The phone continued to ring endlessly, although something confused him. The song that played was one he used for messages, but it rang for so long as if it was someone calling instead.

Now curious, he rolled back and took the phone in his hand.

 _(You have 12 messages)_

"What?" he raised an eyebrow.

 _From: Sir Alabaster_

 _hey hey jacy! we got some more clues so we're havin a meeting tom!_

 _ahh sorry for interrupting u at this time of day… u're prob asleep huh?_

 _remember to use the blanket, it's chilly at this time of year!_

 _did u lock the door btw? are the curtains closed?_

 _wait im gonna go check_

 _From: Mister Mao_

 _Jason, Jason! Did you hear someone outside?!_

 _Is that a ghost?! Wait, ghosts don't have footsteps do they!?_

 _From: Mister Hiromu_

 _any idea who's walking around?_

 _From: Sir Alabaster_

 _good good everything's all fine_

 _oops im interrupting u again aren't i? sorry!_

 _have a good rest!_

 _From: Mister Mao_

 _JASON! HELP ME! THE GHOST'S BACK AGAIN!_

 _From: Mister Hiromu_

 _don't mind my previous message. it turns out to be alabaster._

 _sorry_

 _From: Miss Caeldori_

 _Someone shut that child up! he's spamming messages on my phone!_

 _From: Sir Alabaster_

 _did u see a ghost there jacy?! mao apparently heard one!_

 _i'll go get it! tell mao for me!_

 _From: Mister Cross_

 _whats with all the racket…_

 _From: Mister Akira_

 _What's wrong with Mao? ovo_

 _He's been sending me messages… Is there really a ghost?_

 _If there is, tell me! OwO_

 _From: Mister Mao_

 _HELP! IT'S BACK! AND IT'S ROAMING AROUND OUT THERE LONGER!_

 _AAAHHHHHHHHHH_

 _From: Sir Alabaster_

 _tell mao it's all fine! i didn't see one out there!_

Jason sweatdropped. He sent a message to Mao to relieve him of his misunderstanding.

 _From: Mister Mao_

 _It was Alabaster? Oops… ahaha…_

 _Sorry. Thanks for telling me, Jason._

Jason released a sigh. After no more messages were spamming his phone, he went back to sleep.

 **Thanks for reading~**


	12. Joker Arc III: Catch Me if You Can

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: Alright, another update! :D Finished this chapter during my hiatus, but I haven't finished the next chapter yet... DUNDUNDUNDUNNNN! #slapped XwX  
**

 **I'm already in the middle of it, so hopefully my procrastination doesn't strike me owo #slapped**

 **Welp, without further ado... REPLIES! #slapped XwX**

 **Replies~**

* * *

 **For KazeNoKishiX:**

 **Yesh, I am alive and well :D**

 **Glad to know some of your are still active here! XD If not, then I would have to discontinue this fict... Or maybe still continue since my sis will still be reading them... ouo #slapped XwX**

 **Woahh, this flood of OCs! OAO Hello, Lucie! :D**

 **Wait, you're writing in the Fire Emblem fandom? ouo ... What's Fire Emblem again? owo' #slapped XwX**

 **Ah... my school story... XD Unfortunately, I'm having writer's block for that XD #slapped XwX So it's probably discontinued... #double slapped XwX**

 **Nah, it won't make a fool out of you... Maybe ovo #slapped XwX**

 **YES, HIRO-CHAN! WORK! WORKKK! #slapped XwX**

* * *

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **Ayee~ Mao's called (and mistook) Jason's name a lot of times before, although I didn't write them up, so now he got used to it XD #slapped XwX**

 **Actually, the people he still can't remember the names of other than Caeldori are Weiss (Ice) and Julius (although he still hasn't used it, he calls him Romeo (?) XD)**

 **As for why he calls him Romeo, his thought process went like this:**

 **Mao: 'Ju... Juli... Juliet? No way, he's a guy! Then, um... Romeo, perhaps? Ah! Romeo!' Yes :D**

 **Thank you~ The combat will be on the next chapter and the chapter after that :D**

* * *

 **For Infinitespada:**

 **I missed you tooooo TwT *TACKLE HUGS***

* * *

 **Onto the story~**

* * *

 **~Police Side~**

Police officers lined throughout the housing district. The citizens all peeked through the windows of their houses, but none dared to step foot outside. They were anxious, informed of their neighbor's death. They couldn't believe that a murder just happened under their noses, and those who lived next to the site started to move out.

Investigations were quickly carried out, but the only thing they managed to find other than Marvil's body lying on a puddle of blood was a card placed right next to him.

 _Catch me if you can_

"The culprit's definitely becoming cocky these days." Julius raised an eyebrow at the words.

"There's really no eye witness this time?" Alabaster questioned Rizumu who was jotting down notes. She flipped over a few pages.

"No, but Mr. Frappe came right after he heard the attack. Unfortunately, he wasn't in time to see the murderer." she answered, fixing her hat, "When he arrived, Mr. Soi had already died."

"So it was an instant death…" the inspector mumbled. "Did the search team find anything? Other than that… bizarre card?"

"Sakurada." Rizumu called over. Hiromu nodded and made his way towards them. He did a brief salute before he started to speak.

"Report. We received news from the residents that the victim had received a group of visitors just before he died." He narrowed his eyes, as if suspicious, " _Exactly_ before his death, in fact."

"Well then," Alabaster stroked his beard, "Did you manage to find them?"

"No…" he admitted. "Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out their identities either."

"How strange…" the old man thought aloud, "If that's so, then they're most likely not citizens here."

He looked at Weiss, who slightly flinched.

"Weiss, can you go search for the names of those who had just moved into town? Every single one." He commanded with a firm expression.

"Y-Yes, sir!" he saluted, then rushed back to base.

"Someone accompany him." Alabaster added, his gaze not leaving the running boy. "I'm worried."

"He's not a child. He can take care of himself." Cross commented.

As if to prove him wrong, Weiss suddenly tripped on a pebble.

"Akh!"

Cross paused, shook his head, and sighed.

"Fine, I'll follow him."

"Thank you, Cross." The old man nodded.

They watched for a moment as the dark brown-haired young man went over to help the poor boy up. Weiss appeared to be embarrassed as he tried to pick himself up with as much dignity he could muster.

"I-I'm okay!" he stammered.

"Yes, yes. Now, let's go. I'm tagging along." The mercenary replied, walking ahead before he could tell him otherwise.

Once the two finally left their sights, Alabaster returned to face the rest of the Police members.

"Let's continue. Is there anything else we haven't looked through?" he asked.

"Actually, inspector," Akira suddenly spoke up, "There was a case similar to this three years ago, wasn't there?"

"There was?" Miki looked surprised.

"That's right." Alabaster confirmed. "And I regret to say that we still haven't found the-"

He widened his eyes, "Could it be..?"

"Perhaps… The case is repeating itself?" Elysea snapped her fingers in realization.

"Possibly. Who were the victims again?" Mao thought aloud, "From what I remember, their names are kind of weird…"

"The case was weird too. The youngest son was never found." Rizumu crossed her arms as she tapped her foot to the ground.

"So he was kidnapped? Poor thing…" Alisa frowned.

"What are you talking about? That guy's the _culprit_!" Zanardi raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?!"

"He was once diagnosed with a mental disorder." Rizumu informed, "We don't know what it exactly is, but it happens to turn him into a blood-thirsty murderer. He even killed his own family."

"Why did you think he was the murderer just because of that?" Selena asked, displeased.

"Because there was a witness who saw him leave." Shion added. "Unfortunately, he went insane before he was able to tell us a description of the suspect and was given medical care. The doctor had forbidden us from reminding him of the case, so we weren't able to get anymore information out of him."

"Then..! If we manage to find the youngest son…" Miki trailed off with a halted breath.

"Exactly." Alabaster nodded. "It was the most memorable case in the past three years. The name of the suspect, if I'm not mistaken, was…"

* * *

 **~At the Police HQ~**

Weiss sat in front of numerous floating screens as he typed something into the keyboard. Cross stood next to him, observing the words written onscreen.

His phone suddenly rang from his pocket. Picking it up, he took a brief look at the caller ID and directed himself to the door.

"Weiss, I'll be outside for a bit."

"Okay." The boy replied, his eyes not wavering a single bit.

There was a soft click followed by the closing of the door, signaling his leave.

Weiss continued to type in a few codes and opened up several documents, one for each screen.

"Let's see…" he finally looked up, scanning through the list of names that showed up. All the names were unfamiliar to him, until he came across a single name that perked his memory.

Mione Hyldelune Ristveia

"Isn't that…" he paused, shaking his head. "Even so, she has no relation to the current case."

He continued to scan through the names and found another name that was eerily familiar to him.

 _'This one…'_ he widened his eyes, _'It's from that case-!'_

Weiss immediately opened up a file on another screen.

"Not this one, not that one…" he mumbled, "There!"

 **Case L-3**

 **Mass murder found in Lacotta Manor, Velder. All of the residents were found dead except for the missing son and a servant who had left on an errand. Autopsy results showed that they have been struck once with a blunt object and died instantly. The murder was predicted to have happened around 5 P.M. before it was reported.**

 **The missing son became the prime suspect after the witness reported him leaving the murder site. However, his whereabouts are nowhere to be found.**

While Weiss was still reading, Cross suddenly came back into the room.

"Weiss, Alabaster told us to check the video on file L-3." He said.

"Alright." The boy nodded, opening a recording that was placed inside the document.

A large screen opened up, showing a brown-haired man sitting across a light green-haired young man as Alabaster stood next to him. A few other policemen were spread around the room acting as guards, but the three in the middle caught their eyes the most.

"This must be a video of the interrogation." Cross mumbled. Weiss nodded.

' _That must be the previous chief…'_ Weiss thought to himself, his eyes on the one next to their inspector, then to the man across them. ' _Then that's the servant…'_

He bit his lip. This definitely had been a big case.

After he pressed 'play', the video started to shake, telling them that it had been recorded by hand.

 _"So you really saw someone leave?" the light green-haired young man questioned him with a serious gaze._

 _"Y-Yes… There's no doubt about it." The servant looked pale. "I-I just came back when I saw him outside. At first I thought nothing of it, but there was a strange glint in his eyes. I didn't think it was that strange either. I figured that his other personality came up then, but-"_

 _"Wait," the young man interrupted, "you said 'other personality'?"_

 _"Y-Yes. The young master was diagnosed with a personality disorder just a few years ago." He stammered nervously._

 _"A personality disorder?" Alabaster repeated, raising an eyebrow._

 _"Y-Yes, that's right..."_

 _The chief slowly nodded._

 _"Continue on. What happened next?"_

 _"… When I went into the manor, there was blood everywhere." The servant shuddered, "Everyone was already killed, including my master. I tried to check for any survivors, but when I found none, I rushed here…"_

 _"I see… Can you tell us what the young master looked like?" the chief asked._

 _The witness started to tremble, fear evidently shown in his eyes._

 _"He…" his voice started to shake, and he suddenly clutched his head as if in pain._

 _"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

 _All the policemen went on their guard as the chief immediately reached out a hand towards him._

 _"Hey! What's wrong?! Hey-!"_

The screen went black.

Weiss and Cross stood there in silence. They still couldn't believe what they saw, especially Weiss.

"It's just as Alabaster said…" Cross muttered. "Let's go, Weiss. We should report this to them."

"Y-Yes, okay." He shakily replied, his eyes still stuck on the screen. From now on, he has to face cases like these.

* * *

 **~Organization side~**

 **~At night~**

Lint stood beside a pale pink-haired girl as she typed something into a computer in front of them.

"Did you manage to break into them?" he asked. She replied with a slow nod, then placed a hand on the screen. A number of blue screens floated right above them, each with a different file opened.

The director read through them before he gave out a sigh.

"Just as I thought…" he mumbled, "But what could possibly be the reason for it to happen..?"

Suddenly, the door harshly opened and a panicked Cain came into the room.

"Sir Lint! We have a problem!" he exclaimed, panting.

"What is it?"

"Someone jumped from a window on the third floor!" he shouted, "Worse, I think it was Chess' room!"

" _What_?!" the director's eyes widened,

* * *

 **3: Cliffhaaaangeeeeerrrrrrr XD #slapped XwX**

 **The murderer shall finally be revealed next chapter, but… let' s see if anyone of you could figure out the mystery! :D**

 **Ozul: I doubt it. Such a poorly written plot is even beyond me. =w=**

 **3: I'm no mystery expert, so hehehe? :D #slapped XwX**

* * *

 **~Remakes~**

"Sir Lint! We have a problem!" he exclaimed, panting.

"What is it?"

"Someone jumped from a window on the third floor!" he shouted.

"Again?" Lint raised an eyebrow. "Did the person do a flip?"

"A-" Cain paused, "Actually, he did. How did you know, sir?"

"Ah, then don't worry. That's just Vince."

"Vince?!"

* * *

While Weiss was still reading, Cross suddenly came back into the room.

"Weiss, Alabaster told us to check the video on file L-3." He said.

"Alright." The boy nodded, opening a recording that was placed inside the document.

" _Nyanyanyanyany-"_

Cross immediately closed the window, causing Weiss to blink at why he did so.

"Cross?"

"… Let's forget it."

* * *

"Someone jumped from a window on the third floor!" he shouted, "Worse, I think it was Seven's room!"

" _What_?!" the director's eyes widened, "Do tell me it's the murderer!"

"Maybe. They're having a big fight outside now!"

"Call the others! We're watching!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

 **~Vince's Phone Scenes~**

Back from The Fab, Vince's footsteps bounced as he walked home in a light-hearted manner. He whistled a few songs beautiful enough to be mistaken as the sounds of a flute. He picked up his phone, curious on what messages he might have received during his leave from home.

"Oh?~" he blinked in amazement, doing a swift and graceful turn to evade from the pole in his way. "This is quite a lot. Ahh, so they've missed me!~"

He hummed cheerfully as he typed up replies for each message, dodging obstacles in an elegant manner as he did so.

 _(You have 14 messages)_

 _From: Chess_

 _VINCEEEE! WE NEED TO BUY INSECT REPELLANTS! THESE COCKROACHES ARE OUT TO TORTURE ME!_

 _From: En_

 _vince! if its okay, can i be the model for ur magazines?! this "Bona Fide Artisto" hairstyle is just rockin cool!_

 _From: Orlen_

 _thanks for trimming my hair the other day. everyone seems more jealous of me now. haha!_

 _From: Yucca_

 _Shall we have some smoothies at the beach?~ The weather is beautiful today~_

 _From: Yucca_

 _Oh, Selena and Julius said they're coming along!_

 _From: Rain_

 _Aaaaayeeee~~_

 _From: Alabaster_

 _say, can u give the kiddos here a little haircut? some of them's too stubborn ya see…_

 _From: Cain_

 _Vince, you left your other phone in the living room._

 _It's with me now, don't worry_

 _From: Five_

 _Sorry, have you seen Seven?_

 _From: Xen_

 _vince! the result of the rhyming contest is up!_

 _turns out en won lol surprising isnt it?_

 _dont tell him! im making it a surprise!_

 _From: Alice_

 _Why is xen posting these weird papers on the bulletin board…_

 _From: Ivy_

 _why did no one tell me u had a rhyming contest?!_

 _aw man, I wanted to join!_

 _From: Nex_

 _u guys had a rhyming contest? lol_

 _that explains it_

 _From: Rain_

 _tell me if you saw en_

 _he sent ridiculous things to everyone with my phone_

Vince paused and reached into his pocket, realizing that there was something missing there.

"Oh! I had indeed forgotten my other phone!" he remarked, "Hm… I better go pick it up later."

He went back to skipping along the path, mentally pondering on En's offer and Chess' request.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading~**


	13. Joker Arc IV: The Truth

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: Finally back! :D**

 **I have a few important things on the author note at the bottom, but please read the story first! :3**

 **Replies~**

 **For KazeNoKishiX:**

 **Hahahahahhahaahhaha... XD #slapped XwX**

 **... Double hahahahahha... XD (?) #slapped XwX**

 **You'll understand why I kept laughing awkwardly after reading this chap ovo'**

 **Alabaster: No, no! Your hair is an absolute mess! You NEED a haircut!**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **Seems that the truth will shock quite a lot of people, huh XD**

 **Glad you like them! :D**

 **They're pretty interesting to write too :3**

 **For it's ya boi:**

 **Azu-nii-channnn! XD *hugs***

 **I shall be expecting updates from you as well then! :D**

 **Coming along where? Huh? What do you mean? ovo**

 **For Crosspass:**

 **Nahh... Just being a lazy person owo #slapped XwX**

 **Mojave? Where is that? Owo**

 **I am? :D Thank you~~**

 **On to the story~**

"Chess?" Cain said to no one in particular. Wasn't he supposed to be sleeping? Then, who jumped out of his room?

"Mr. Cain?" Lint suddenly spoke from behind him, "You still haven't gone to sleep?"

"Sir Lint!" the black-haired young man exclaimed, turning towards him, "Someone just jumped out of Chess' room!"

"What?" Lint narrowed his eyes.

The two quickly rushed towards the youngest member's room, careful to not wake the others up on their way there.

Once they arrived, Cain tried to pull the door open, but to no avail.

"Step aside," Lint told him, holding up a spare key to the room. He used it on the lock, turning it once and tried to open the door. When it didn't work, he turned the lock a second time, then the door opened.

The two stepped inside and looked around.

The room was dark, the lights all turned off, and the windows, as they expected, were still wide open. The curtains blew towards the room following the direction of the breeze, but what alarmed them most was the empty bed. The sheets were ruffled and the blanket looked as if it had been thrown aside.

"Chess _did_ go to sleep, then. What's going on..?" Cain raised an eyebrow, feeling uneasy about this.

"Mr. Cain," Lint spoke up, "We have to search for him. I suspect that something has happened."

"Yes…"

"You go ahead. Ill go wake up the others." Lint told him, scrunching his eyebrows in distaste. After all, it wouldnt be an easy feat.

Cain wasted no time in hurrying outside and followed the route he saw the child leave. He stumbled on a few pebbles in his chase, but quickly composed himself to continue running.

He eventually saw a dark silhouette of a young child, one he suspected to be Chess, walking in the middle of the park. He opened his mouth to call for him, but kept it shut when he saw another person from the distance.

The other person, one he assumed to be male, looked left and right as he walked as if unfamiliar with his surroundings. He passed one of the streetlights, the light making him much more visible than he was in the dark, and Cain gasped upon realizing who he really was.

Before he could think of anything else, the black-haired young man's eyes snapped wide open at seeing Chess suddenly sneaking up behind him. A giant hammer that was practically twice the child's size materialized within his hands, and it didn't take long for him to realize the whole situation.

"LOQUE!" Cain yelled in hopes that his friend would be able to notice the attack behind him, but instead the cream-haired young man blinked in his direction.

"Cain? What're you doing up this late?" he asked.

Cain gritted his teeth and dashed towards him, cursing himself at the fact that he most likely wouldn't be able to make it through the distance. Just before the hammer could strike, the attack was blocked by Lint using his hand, the organization members meters behind him.

"I'm really disappointed, Chess... I thought that you were better than this." Lint glared at the child.

Only then did Loque notice the ambush behind him. He widened his eyes and took a few fearful steps back, away from the gigantic hammer.

"Why... are you here-?!" Cain demanded upon arriving next to him, panting slightly. "Don't you... know that there's a murder case going... on-?!"

"Ah... I'm sorry..." Loque bit his lip, "I really had no idea..."

"Chess! Stop it this instant!" Nezu shouted, "What're you doing going around killing people?! That's wrong!"

Chess merely stared at them with rolled eyes, his hands still gripping on the hammer.

"Haaaahhhh, can't you guys just stop calling me with that ridiculous name?" he let out a deep, frustrated sigh. His grip on the hammer tightened even more as he, with a sudden burst of strength, pulled the hammer out from Lint's grip and did a single swift spin using it, forcing the suit-wearing man to pull back and return to where the organization members stood.

Chess swung the hammer to his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, his expression not amused.

"You guys are pretty weak. Booo~~riinggg~" he mocked childishly, stretching his arm out as he kept hold of the hammer. "This is no fun. You got anyone else who's tougher?"

"You're not Chess! What did you do to him?!" Nezu demanded.

"Heeh?" the child laughed, "Of course I am! I am Chess, and Chess is me, but..." he smirked, "I usually go by as 'Joker'..."

They widened their eyes.

"Whoopsie daisy~ Interesting, no? Chess or not Chess? How will you know?" he sang, chuckling to himself. "What? He didn't tell you 'bout them? That kid's still a wimp, huh."

"He's not! Dont call him that!" Xen glared, "Return him back, or else…"

Joker's eyes lit up with a glint of amusement.

"Oh? You're threatening me?" The hammer in his hand began to glow in a dark red light as he spoke. "Go ahead, try. But remember..." he smirked mischievously, "What happens to me, happens to Chess!"

He leaped towards them and slammed his hammer towards the ground, leaving a red magic circle that quickly grew larger and surrounded the whole group.

"Get out of here!" Lint yelled, and they did without a second thought.

"Loque! Go hide somewhere away from here! Well get you once everything's over!" Cain shouted towards his friend.

"Okay…" Loque bit his lip. "I'll be at the library. Stay safe, all of you!" he yelled, then quickly ran away from the scene.

Joker smirked as he rose up and took a deck of cards out of nowhere.

"Hearts, Spades, Clovers, Clubs…" he chanted, "Soldiers, heed me!"

He let go of the cards which flew to specific parts of the magic circle. The cards shone and turned into human-sized card soldiers, ones much bigger than their summoner himself.

Joker jumped and landed atop the nearest wall surrounding a mansion.

"Intruder!"

Glancing at the guard below him, the boy instantly jumped down and hit the guard's neck, causing him to go unconscious. With that done, he jumped back onto the wall.

"Alright…" he faced the group as they struggled in keeping the seemingly endless soldiers at bay. "If you're at least able to handle them, then I'll give you the honor of facing me directly!"

"You were saying?" A voice suddenly came from behind him, Xen, and with a smirk he rose his staff up and smashes him from the back. However, his attack was met with the boy's hammer and was flung back. Just when he was about to attack the boy with a kick to the face, Joker turned his head to face him and laughed.

"You want to hurt Chess? Fine by me~"

That statement made Xen widen his eyes, hesitant. With that split second, Joker hopped off the wall.

"Nice try~" he mocked.

.

Ivy clashed blades with a heart card soldier and flung its sword upwards before defending against another. As the two soldiers closed in on him, he did a flip mid-air with his scimitars and slashed the two in half.

With that done, he slashed another wave of soldiers horizontally on their bellies and jumped away to evade a row of crashing soldiers.

"You almost hit me! Again!" Ivy exclaimed with horror as he briefly faced a certain dark red-haired friend of theirs.

"My~ Bad~" En sang playfully as he strung on his guitar, forming numerous black-colored notes that launched themselves on the soldiers before him and threw them off once again.

"HEY!"

Five shot a few holes into the card soldiers, clicking her tongue at the fact that it did little to stop them in their tracks.

"Seven!" she called out, and as if on cue the grayish-black haired young man appeared from seemingly nowhere to swipe his mechanical double-edged sword at the targets. The soldiers fell ungracefully, sprawled on the ground before they vanished into nothing.

"Arc of Memories…" Alice mumbled, throwing ten cards that hit the card soldiers surrounding her and exploded along with them. As the soldiers faded away, her cards returned back to her hand.

Rain stayed still as a cube floated above his hand. As the card soldiers neared, the cube transformed into a blade in his hands. He gripped its handle and swiftly moved to slash them twice. With them gone, his blade turned into a claw.

Nex stood unfazed in front a row of card soldiers. He raised his hand, summoning a number of cards to spin steadily in front of him and took out a pistol. He placed its barrel right between the spinning cards, and as if enchanting it, he shot numerous bullets that pierced through them and exploded, disintegrating them into pieces.

"Now, little one, just like we practiced!" Yucca cheered as she clapped her hands twice. Six large dahlias bloomed around her, growing large roots that captured each soldier nearby.

"Okay…" Thirteen nodded, his hand in a tight grip as it glowed a bright blue. He threw the small glowing blue from his hand, and the moment it exploded, it encased the captured soldiers in ice except for their weapons that consisted of swords, spears, and other sharp objects.

"Thanks!" Nezu exclaimed, passing through the frozen soldiers with the speed of light and took all their weapons along. He threw the others aside and kept an axe, smashing them into pieces with it. To his dismay, the axe disappeared along with the rest.

Helios gracefully evaded through their endless attacks as he threw knives at each soldier he could find, all while carrying a sleepy Amane on his back.

"Tch. These mutants are endless." he clicked his tongue. The girl on his back yawned, her face an expression of displeasure.

"Indeed. Theyre wasting our time here." she mumbled, "Javelin Raid."

Tens of javelins fell from the sky and pierced down the card soldiers.

"Is that enough, Helios?" she quietly asked as she watched them twitch helplessly on the ground.

"Indeed, Lady Amane."

Vince evaded from all attacks aimed at him as if he was dancing. He twirled from arrows, side stepped from stabs, and jumped gracefully from other attacks.

He sighed disdainfully, frowning at something that was missing from the card soldiers.

"It's a shame they don't have hair or a face…" he sighed once more, "I could've styled them more beautifully!"

Cain slashed on each soldier he could find, but instead of being cut they immediately went unconscious.

"Xen… Where are you?" he anxiously looked around, finding the Brawler attacking Joker from behind.

Joker landed in the middle of them all, making a dent on the ground with the impact of his hammer and sent dusts flying around.

"Whoops. Did I interrupt your party?" he mischievously grinned as he spun himself and hopped off with his weapon in his hand.

"Your insolence has gone too far, Joker." Lint narrowed his eyes dangerously, his arm guarding against a soldiers blade.

"Eh?~ But I'm just having fun." he shrugged his shoulders, still with that creepy expression on his face.

Xen landed a few meters away from them and dusted himself off.

"Quit it with your fun. It's not fun at all, especially when you have Chess hostage…" he growled.

"So?" Joker asked as he tilted his head, "Why should I care what you think?"

Lint sent a glance at Xen's way and mouthed a few words to him, to which he replied with a brief nod.

"So I guess you're just a little coward who hides behind people, huh?" Xen mocked, "You only rely on these card things and use Chess as your shield. Truth is, you can't do anything by yourself."

"And?" the child deadpanned and snickered. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not like Chess."

"Well, I tried." the Brawler shrugged, "I'd say it's a success, though."

"What?" Joker raised an eyebrow, but before he was able to process anything else, a hand suddenly held his head.

"Good job, Xen." Lint complimented, causing the young man to grin to himself. "Seems that you still have a few traits of Chess on yourself, Joker, and that is his inattentiveness."

Suddenly, Lint used his other hand to push Joker from the back, or rather, pushed him out of Chess.

A look-alike of Chess came out of him, but this time having wavy hair and sharp red-colored eyes.

He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with its sleeves rolled topped with a red and black checkered blazer, a black tie, knee-length shorts having the same color and pattern as his blazer, black boots tied with shoelaces of the same color and pattern, and has heart, diamond, and clover cards on the left side of his head as a hat-like accessory. A small black teardrop mark is right below his right eye as added decoration.

Joker clicked his tongue as he jumped a step away from them, his hammer still with him. Just when he did, Chess eyes fluttered open and blinked at his surroundings. His eyes eventually rested on Joker and he flinched.

"Joker…" he quietly said. His look-alike's eyes narrowed at him.

"Chess…" he growled. "Heh. So you finally found some friends, but it won't last long."

"Shut up, Joker…" Chess mumbled, his voice rising with anger. "How long are you going to pretend you're me..?"

"Am I not?" he grinned, "You're still as bratty as always. Grow up a little, would you?"

"You-!"

"Alright, alright. Insult each other once were back at base." Lint interrupted with a deadpan, "As for you, Joker, there're lots of things we'll be asking you."

"I'm not going anywhere with that coward." he spat as he pointed at Chess who glared at him. "Besides…"

He swung his hammer and slammed the ground, reviving all the fallen card soldiers back to life.

"Since I'm no longer inside Chess, I have nothing to worry." he smirked, vanishing from their view.

"Not again!" Ivy cried in anguish.

En strung his guitar once more and threw the magical notes towards them, but different from the previous ones, this time the cards rose back up again.

He grinned nervously, cold sweat running down his temples.

"Guess these guys aren't going to be easy…" he remarked.

Chess stared with unease as the chaos went on. He clutched a single card in his hand that it crumpled. A message with various meanings, but one he understood.

 _Beat me, Chess._

 **3: Finally! We're reaching the end of the Joker Arc! :D**

 **Question is** **…** **you guys confused yet? :D #slapped XwX**

 **RANDOM NOTE: The ones who can interpret the real meaning behind Joker's message gets a free special chapter/one-shot (choose) made for them! XD**

 **Hint: It's not to overpower him! Chess is pretty much hopeless in that area (' u ') #kicked XwX**

 **Winners will be PM-ed directly, but for guests they will be announced in the next chap! :D**

 **ANOTHER RANDOM NOTE: 3's starting to post drawings of things related to this story or 3's OCs on instagram :D**

 **Go search up arrowchan3 and you'll find me there ovo**

 **The first drawing I posted is a** **…** ***DRUMROLL*** **…**

 **FUDGE RABBIT XD**

 **I struggle in giving equal screen time this chapter owoa The situations are not very supportive (T AT)**

 **Hopefully I'll be able to next time TwT**

 **~Remakes~**

Once they arrived, Cain tried to pull the door open, but to no avail.

"Step aside," Lint told him, holding up a spare key to the room. He used it on the lock, turning it once and tried to open the door. When it didn't work, he turned the lock a second time, then the door opened.

"I thought you were going to kick the door down." Cain remarked with a hint of surprise on his face.

"Kick the door? Do you know how much it'll cost me if the door were to break down?" Lint stared at him in disbelief.

"B-But movies-!"

"Exactly. Movies." Lint rolled his eyes, as if stating the obvious.

 **.**

The two stepped inside and looked around.

The room was dark, the lights having been turned off, and the windows, as they expected, were still wide open. The curtains blew towards the room, following the direction of the breeze, but what alarmed them most was the empty bed. The sheets were ruffled and the blanket looked as if it had been thrown aside.

"Sir Lint! I know what happened!" Cain suddenly exclaimed, turning towards the director instantly. "Kidnappers!"

"But you said one person jumped." Lint raised an eyebrow.

"Oh shoot. GHOST KIDNAPPERS!" Cain gasped.

"Really, Cain..? Really?" Lint sighed.

.

"Haaaahhhh, can't you guys just stop calling me with that ridiculous name?" he let out a deep, frustrated sigh. His grip on the hammer tightened even more as he, with a sudden burst of strength, pulled the hammer out from Lint's grip and did a single swift spin using it, forcing the suit-wearing man to pull back and return to where the organization members stood.

Chess swung the hammer to his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, his expression not amused.

"You guys are pretty weak. Booo~~riinggg~" he mocked childishly, stretching his arm out as he kept hold of the hammer. "This is no fun. You got anyone else who's tougher?"

"You're not Chess! What did you do to him?!" Nezu demanded.

"Heeh?" the child laughed, "Of course I am! I am Chess, and Chess is me, but..." he smirked, "I usually go by as 'Joker'..."

They widened their eyes.

"That's an equally ridiculous name!" they shouted.

"… Ah…" Joker nodded to himself, "True…"

 **(The three above remakes are ideas of gotchapanda :D)**

.

The room was dark, the lights having been turned off, and the windows, as they expected, were still wide open. The curtains blew towards the room, following the direction of the breeze, but what alarmed them most was the empty bed. The sheets were ruffled and the blanket looked as if it had been thrown aside.

"Chess _did_ go to sleep, then. What's going on..?" Cain raised an eyebrow, feeling uneasy about this.

"BOO!"

"AAHHHHHHHH!"

Chess laughed uncontrollably as he clutched his stomach, standing right behind the door.

"Got you!"

"CHESS!"

.

Joker jumped and landed atop the nearest wall surrounding a mansion.

"Intruder!"

Glancing at the panicking guard below him, the boy deadpanned as he watched him run into a nearby tree and fall unconscious with a dull thud.

.

"You want to hurt Chess? Fine by me~"

That statement made Xen widen his eyes.

"I can hurt Chess?!" he asked, sounding almost excited. Joker raised an eyebrow.

"Wha-"

He was kicked across the street and crashed against the wall, falling unconscious.

"This is for all the cockroach messages he kept sending me!"

.

 **~Phone Scenes~**

 **~Yucca's Phone Scenes~**

Yucca was relaxing by the beach side with Vince, sipping on a glass of warm tea.

"Oh, that's right!" Vince suddenly exclaimed, gasping dramatically, and turned to Yucca. "Thirteen said he sent you a message a while ago. Have you checked it yet?"

"He did?" the albino elf looked surprised. "I haven't. I turned my phone off you see… Was it important?"

"It may be… From the looks of it, he was quite distressed." The long-haired young man hummed in thought.

Yucca slowly nodded in understanding and reached for her phone.

 _(You have 9 messages)_

"Oh my." She looked amused. "This is quite a lot."

 _From: Chess_

 _HELP! THE COCKROACHES ARE TRYING TO GET REVENGE!_

 _THEY'RE BRINGING AN ARMY OF GRASSHOPPERS!_

 _From: The Little One_

 _Yucca?_

 _From: The Little One_

 _How do you put sentences below the first one?_

 _From: The Little One_

 _I pressed enter like En said but it keeps sending. Is it like that?_

 _From: Nezu_

 _sorry, yucca, but can you get back here as soon as possible?_

 _there're lots of grasshoppers here and we need all the help we can get_ _…_

 _From: Xen_

 _whats with all these grasshoppers?_

 _wait, i think I just saw a mantis!_

 _From: Chess_

 _AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! THE PRAYING MANTIS IS OUT TO KILL ME!_

 _From: Alice_

 _Mind buying some repellants or bug catchers on your way back?_

 _From: Lint_

 _Ask everyone who was the last one to eat El Cake._

 _I just saw some on the floor and that's probably why the insects are getting here._

Yucca was silent for a moment as she tried to process what happened.

"Vince?"

"Hm?~ Yes, what is it?"

"We need to buy some bug repellants. Plenty of them."

"Huh?"

 **.**

 **~Hiromus Phone Scenes~**

Hiromu was exploring a ruin in the middle of Elder Woods, bringing a flashlight with him. However, different from how he usually is when he does this, his expression was more of dread than excitement.

He flinched when he felt a buzz inside his pockets and fumbled in taking his phone out, nearly dropping it.

 _(You have 10 messages)_

He winced, pondering whether he should check what's inside or not, but ended up reading them anyway.

 _From: Shion_

 _HELP ME CALL THE AMBULANCE! ALABASTER'S POISONED!_

 _From: Akira_

 _Um_ _…_ _Hiromu, you went with Zanardi to buy the groceries yesterday, right? ouo_

 _W-Well_ _…_ _What exactly did she buy?! OAO_

 _From: Julius_

 _what IS in that cereal anyway?! BLERGH_

 _From: Rizumu_

 _I told you people to ban Zanardi from the kitchen..!_

 _From: Jason_

 _Is it safe yet to go back?_

 _From: Elysea_

 _Do you know where Akira went? We kind of got separated_ _…_

 _Snoozy's with me, and he's pretty distressed right now_ _…_

 _From: Alisa_

 _Eeeek! She got me! RUN EVERYONE!_

 _From: Miki_

 _W-Where's ev_

 _From: Zanardi_

 _get back here and eat your cereal._

 _From: Mao_

 _RUN, HIROMU! RUN!_

Hiromu paled upon reading the final message in his phone. Does that mean… everyone's been caught..?

"There you are…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

 **Thanks for reading~**


	14. Joker Arc V: Chess

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: I have finally returned with a new chapter! :D**

 **I hope people are still reading this… owo I guess I should pick up the pace before people completely stops :'D**

 **With that, I will now start on a weekly update schedule. To stop myself from procrastinating. TOSOTC will update every Sunday.**

 ***cracks knuckles***

 **Replies~**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **Wrongg~~~ XDTold you the reason via PM already, as you already know~**

 **Hehehe, thank you~ XD**

 **It's quite a challenge to write those, so I'm happy you enjoy them :D**

 **.**

 **For KazeNoKishiX:**

 **Woahh, this wave of OCs OWO**

 **Hi, guys! :D**

 **Zanardi: You made me get what?! *chases***

 **3: Nice to meet you too, Mitsuji! Hope you enjoy the story XD**

 **.**

 **For The Sharkening:**

 **More fight scenes, but only a little and in the flashback owo/**

 **Then you'll be glad that I'll update this more frequently, then XD**

 **.**

 **For XenoVise:**

 **OAO Really?! Phew~ Glad I made them in character, then~ XD**

 **I'm very late too… ahehehe… ovo #slapped XwX**

 **.**

 **For Crosspass:**

 **YAY! I'm glad! XD Thank you~ I shall continue to improve! (*v*)p**

 **I wrote the real meaning at the bottom of this story :D The fighting part is right, but not because he wanted to harm Chess :D They're literally the same person. Joker is actually just Chess' deepest and darkest thoughts personified.**

 **Hehehe… I shall now start on a weekly update schedule ovo/**

 **On to the story~**

 **~Police Side~**

"Cyl Chess Lymphogale?" Hiromu repeated.

"Yes. That's the name of the suspect." Alabaster said. "He would still be a little lad if he's still alive today. As in, eleven years old."

"He was eight when the murder happened?!" Alisa gaped in disbelief, earning a nod. "B-But that's so young!"

"Although it was technically his doing, it's not exactly his fault either." Jason pointed out. "Remember? He wasn't the one in control."

"Yes, but it might as well be him." The old man sighed. "I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for him either, but we still need to capture him for questioning. Depending on how the interrogation turns up, we might have to imprison him. Worse, execute him."

.

 **~Organization side~**

At their HQ, everyone sat or stood around Chess as he was seated in between them. The boy fidgeted nervously and refused to look at any of them in the eye. Not even any of his close friends.

"Chess," Lint started, his hands folded as he calmly stared at him from his desk. "I believe there's something you need to tell us."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Explain. What _is_ Joker? What is he to you?"

That question. Chess knew that it was coming.

"If I tell you… you're all just going to hate me." He sputtered out, his clenched fist white as a sheet.

"Oh, come on! It can't be _that_ bad!" En grinned, but zipped his mouth instantly once he saw Lint glaring at him for his interruption.

"Not telling us anything isn't going to help you either, Chess." Cain frowned.

"He's right." Rain spoke up. "Are you a friend or foe? Can we still even trust you after all this? Right now, we don't know what to decipher you as anymore."

He crossed his arms and stared down at the boy.

"Because _clearly_ you aren't as innocent as we thought you were."

The word _murderer_ was left hanging in the open, and Chess realized that after all this, things will never be the same.

He bit his lip.

"Alright…" he said, "I'll tell you."

He took in a shaky breath, all the while refusing to look at any of them.

"It all started four years ago, when I was seven…"

.

" _Open your eyes, Cyl."_

 _Gray eyes fluttered open and his gaze was immediately greeted by a familiar man._

" _Professor Toolstoy…" the young boy quietly said._

" _Just professor is fine." Professor Toolstoy replied as he read a few pieces of paper in his hand. "You didn't show any of the side effects… That's good, but for safety precautions I advise you to not channel your mana for a few days. I'll say, three."_

 _Chess meekly nodded._

" _Can you see any of 'them'?" the professor asked._

" _No…"_

" _I see. It's probably taking some time to adjust to. This happens often." He assured, looking back to his papers. "Alright, you're free to go. Your check-ups will be at 3 P.M."_

 _The young boy nodded once again and inched slowly to the edge of the bed. As his feet touched the floor, a sudden pain throbbed in his skull. He winced, placing a hand on the back of his head._

' _Probably a side effect.' he thought as the pain slowly faded._

 _The professor didn't even give him a glance and kept reading through his files._

" _Oh, right. I almost forgot to say." he spoke, "You have your own name now. Chess."_

 _Only then did he look at him._

" _Congratulations."_

 _._

 _A year later_

" _Ack!"_

 _Chess slammed against the wall, his sword slipping from between his fingers as he slumped down._

 _A large ball slid through the ground and spun a few meters in front of the boy. It eventually slowed down and morphed into a young man in gray._

" _You're still weak, Chess." he remarked, "You're not making use of your powers. Why?"_

 _The boy coughed, straightening himself and held onto the wall for balance._

" _I still can't…"_

" _You can't?!"_

 _Chess flinched._

" _All of us could use our abilities when we were your age! Others even younger, and you're telling me you can't do a single thing with it?!" the young man growled._

" _Brother Pinball…"_

" _Don't call me with that name." he spat. "You're not worthy enough…"_

 _He left, not sparing him with another glance._

 _Biting his lip, Chess picked himself up and walked back inside the mansion, the sword left forgotten._

 _._

 _Chess threw himself onto his bed, not even bothering to change. He'll most likely get reprimanded by his mother later, but right now he couldn't care less._

" _What's wrong with me?" he mumbled. What's wrong with_ them _? He was only seven, almost eight. Surely they could give him a break? Must he be able to beat his older siblings? They had much more experience than him already, how is_ that _fair?_ They're _the ones being unreasonable, not him-!_

 _Widening his eyes at his own thoughts, Chess slapped his cheeks. He sighed as he sat upright, shoving his blanket harshly to the edge of his own bed. He slid down so his feet could touch the floor and gazed outside the window._

 _Sometimes he envied the birds. All they do is fly freely and find something to eat, to survive. They didn't have to deal with stupidity in life. No expectations, no burdens. Just… being alive._

" _I never asked for this stupid power anyway." he grumbled, pulling the window shut._

' _Weak...'_

 _He threw himself back onto his bed, burying himself into one of his pillows._

' _That's all they ever say. But who exactly is the weak one? Not me.' he clutched the pillow. 'It was them, not me.'_

 _A faint laugh was heard as if coming from a distance, mad laughter, and Chess ignored it, thinking that it was one of his older siblings passing by._

 _As Chess was slowly lulled into sleep, he heard a faint whisper, in a voice eerily similar to his own._

" _ **That's right…"**_ _the voice spoke,_ _ **"It was never you."**_

 _._

 _SLAP_

 _Chess fell on his back, wincing as he painfully tried to sit upright and held his stinging cheek._

 _His mother, dressed in her extravagant dress and plentiful accessories, towered before him furiously. Behind her were his snickering siblings and his father looking disappointedly at him._

" _You…" she growled, "How can you lose to that child?! We've given you everything you needed! We've trained you, we gave you power… We even told you where his injuries were! How can you still lose to that…_ _brat_ _-!"_

" _Mo-"_

" _Shut up-!" she snapped, "Do_ not _speak to me! You're a useless kid, a defect of a child! You only had one job, and you ruined it!"_

 _The boy bit his lip._

 _His father sighed._

" _Chess… I'm very disappointed in you." he said. "That power of yours is the strongest one we have, and we generously gave it to you. Because you're our son. But now…"_

" _You're weak to the very end, Chess. No, Cyl…" Pinball jeered, "You don't deserve the name."_

" _Take him to the lab." his father turned around, "Take the power out of him. Ignore his life if you must. Just make sure the power's back and secure."_

 _Chess snapped his eyes open. He trembled, not believing his father's words._

" _Is this… a joke?" he mumbled, "Father? You're kidding, right? Father-!"_

 _The man didn't even take another glance at him, and soon his appearance was obscured by the many guards making their way towards him._

" _You're no longer our son."_

 _Tears fell down Chess' eyes. He sat limply on the floor before the guards tugged him harshly on the arm._

' _Why? They were the ones who forced me. I never wanted this…' he bit his lip. 'And now they want me to die..? Monsters… All of them-!'_

 _An eerie laugh echoed within his mind. A familiar laugh filled with amusement, as if the current situation was nothing for it._

" _ **Why so surprised? It's not like you never expected it."**_ _The voice spoke._ _ **"You knew. But don't worry… I'll handle this for you."**_

" _Move it." the guard emotionlessly said._

 _The boy didn't move, and in his annoyance the guard started to drag the child by force._

"… _Don't touch me."_

 _He grabbed the guard's arm and ripped it out of him, blood splattering out and dyed the floor with its color._

 _The guard's scream ripped through the air, causing everyone to snap their heads towards him._

' _Chess' gazed at the arm now in his hand and flung it aside into the pool of blood._

 _The guards swiftly went into position, their weapons in hand, and his family members warily stared at him._

" _What… What is this…" The woman's eyes widened. "You dare attack us?!"_

" _You did it first, so it was only fair." the boy replied as he dusted his hands._

" _Don't be ridiculous. You're going against the whole family." A brother of his, Dice, remarked as he narrowed his eyes. "We were being nice in letting you die painlessly."_

" _Hah. Interesting." 'Chess' smirked. "Try, then, if you're so confident."_

" _GET HIM!"_

 _At their master's command, the guards immediately went for the young boy. Blood splattered out from where their weapons stabbed and slashed, and one by one each guard fell down with a dull thud._

' _Chess' laughed aloud, hanging onto the chandelier above them. Burdened from the weight, the chandelier fell down from its place and towards the many guards piled up in the middle._

" _Whoops." the boy spun backwards in mid-air to avoid the sharp pieces from its crash. If the men were still alive from their wounds, they wouldn't be now._

 _He narrowly avoided a spinning pinball, courtesy of his brother. Smirking, 'Chess' stepped to the side when the ball had switched directions, and unable to stop himself, he crashed against a different sibling of theirs._

" _Brother Nutcracker!" Pinball paled, rushing towards him once he morphed back. He checked his pulse, relieved that he was still alive._

" _Pinball, watch out!"_

 _The young man quickly turned around, surprised when another brother of theirs had blocked an attack from 'Chess'._

 _The boy landed down after spinning back, a giant hammer in his hand. He clicked his tongue, annoyed at the numerous back-ups he realized they had._

" _Strength in numbers, huh…" he mumbled and swung his weapon to the floor, forming a magic circle._

 _Alarmed at this, the siblings moved away from the circle and regrouped, ready to use their abilities._

 _Card soldiers rose from nothing, filling the entire area as they raised their weapons in unison. 'Chess' jumped away, vanishing from the family's sight. The only thing they could see now were card soldiers, in a number they could not fathom._

" _What..?" One of the many siblings widened his eyes, "This isn't part of Chess' skill set… is it..?"_

 _No one could provide an answer for him, all busy fending off against the soldiers' endless attacks. However, one by one they could hear dull slams all over, followed by blood spilling out from the card soldiers' stabs and slashes that ensured their death._

 _Some were still recognizable; others entirely mutilated._

" _Why…" his father croaked, "If you had this much power all this time… why only now..?"_

" _Why?" 'Chess' replied, looming over him, "Because I'm not Chess."_

 _He swung his hammer upwards._

" _I'm Joker."_

 _SLAM_

.

"… After that, Joker set the mansion up in flames to ensure that no one was alive."

Everyone was silent, except for Amane who remained asleep.

Chess let out a sigh, only then looking at them.

"That's what happened." he finished.

"I don't know what to say…" Nezu scratched his head, "Sorry if this offends you, Chess, but your entire family is messed up. Even so, I can't really tell whether Joker killing them was justifiable or not."

"But they were going to kill him too. Isn't that called self-defense?" Ivy interjected, frowning.

"Yeah, but… killing the entire family can't really be called as self-defense…"

A tense atmosphere loomed over, and Chess only silently waited for whatever judgment they may pass upon him. Will he stay, or will he be brought to prison? Or will he receive the death sentence instead?

This wasn't an easy thing to decide. Chess was their friend, a child at that. Their decision right now would affect his very life, but none of the choices were very favorable.

Do they bring him, their own comrade, to justice, or to let him go and abandon their responsibility as citizens?

"By law, a murder is still a murder, whatever the reason." Lint said, breaking the silence, "However, seeing as this was done by Joker and not Chess, this would make Chess the victim in the situation."

"Y-Yeah! It wasn't Chess' fault!" En exclaimed, burning with determination. "It was that Joker dude! He just took over like that, right? Besides, he's not inside Chess anymore right now!"

"Speaking of that, what should we do about Joker?" Xen asked, changing the topic, "He's escaped, hasn't he? What if he kills people again?"

All eyes turned to Chess.

The boy fidgeted nervously as he racked his brain for a reply.

"I…don't know." he mumbled, refusing to look at them. "I don't know much about him either."

"Huh. Even Chess doesn't know." Nex seemed amused, "Guess the best thing's to catch him first."

"Alright, our next mission is to capture Joker before the police get to him." Lint announced. "However, Chess, seeing as this is your problem, I expect you to finish it yourself."

"We'll be right behind you, though! Don't worry!" Xen grinned as he did the good guy pose.

"… Okay." Chess replied, smiling bitterly.

Finished with the day's matters, the organization members all returned to their rooms to rest, except for the black and white-haired child.

Chess lied open-eyed on his bed, unable to sleep. Memories of his past, his untold ones, kept haunting his mind with guilt.

" _Why did you kill them?!" Chess yelled, glaring at Joker with as much hate as he could muster. His other self rolled his eyes as he sat against nothing in the world inside their mind._

" _For revenge." he merely replied._

" _You killed them because of that?! They're… They're my family! My blood family! How can you just-"_

 _The boy couldn't finish his words and stood wide-eyed. Joker had somehow reached him and closed his mouth with his hand. Red eyes sharply stared at him. Not of hate like he did to him, but mere annoyance._

" _When are you going to stop acting like you're some goody two-shoes?" he growled, "I am you. I merely followed what I wanted to do, thus I killed them."_

 _He let go of him, looking away in distaste._

" _Don't act as if you did nothing wrong."_

Chess bit his lip, burying himself into the blankets.

' _I really wanted to kill them then…'_ he clutched his pillow, _'It wasn't Joker's fault… It was mine.'_

Yet he blamed him for it.

 **No omakes this time. In exchange…**

 **~In Cain's room~**

Cain was trying to sleep, but something kept nagging at the back of his mind.

' _I feel like I'm forgetting something… Something_ very _important…'_ he thought, narrowing his eyebrows.

The memory struck him like lightning and he immediately took his coat and rushed out the headquarters.

' _LOQUE! I FORGOT ABOUT HIM!'_

 **~Phone Scenes~**

 **~Nex's Phone Scenes~**

After winning a bunch of stuff from the casino, Nex returned to his room with a grin. On the way, he met Five and Seven in the living room, Five waving a familiar phone in the air.

"Hey, Nex! Isn't this yours?" she said.

"Huh? Hey, it is!" the red-haired man realized. "Thanks, Five."

The woman merely nodded and smiled before she returned back to chatting with Seven, who was sending glares Nex's way.

Nex inwardly rolled his eyes as he made his way to his room, opening his phone to check for any missed messages or calls.

' _Well,'_ he stared at the screen, _'This is unexpected.'_

 _(You have 10 messages)_

 _From: En_

 _eyy ma buddy! u left ur phone in the living room!_

 _From: Xen_

 _MA FRIEND HALP ME_

 _From: Chess_

 _I'M FINALLY FREE FROM THE BUGS! FREE! QWQ_

 _From: Xen_

 _ALICE IS HUNTING FOR MA HEAD_

 _From: Xen_

 _WAIT WHERE ARE U_

 _From: Chess_

 _THERE'S A BEE IN THE MILK POWDER! A BEE! QAQ_

 _From: Lint_

 _Who ordered the pizza here?_

 _From: Chess_

 _IT'S LIKE AN ENTIRE HIVE IS LIVING IN THIS THING! WHERE DID YOU BUY THIS FROM?! QWQ_

 _From: Alice_

 _Tell me if you saw xen. I have a certain business with him_

 _From: Xen_

 _NEX I DUNNO WHERE U ARE_

 _BUT IF U SAW ME DON TELL ALICE_

Nex evil grinned, contemplating whether he should let his friend be free or not. He saw Xen making his way towards the garden earlier, so…

Tell, no… Tell, no…

Tell Alice it is.

.

 **~Selena's Phone Scenes~**

Selena was still trying to find Julius' fudge rabbit, her husband trailing reluctantly behind.

"Do we really have to find Fenrir's Food?" he sighed, "We'd be fine without it."

"Oh, shush! If you don't want to keep it that badly, then I will!" Selena pouted, "But apologize to the poor thing! I don't want it to keep running away each time it saw me with you!"

He started muttering incoherent things.

Suddenly, Selena's phone started to ring.

"What now…" Julius cringed.

 _(You have 1 message)_

 _From: Elysea_

 _I think I saw it go to the kitchen a while ago… Julius' fudge rabbit, right?_

Selena beamed. She grabbed the white-haired man's hand and started to drag him the opposite direction.

"Where are we going now, Selena?" he asked, having a bad feeling about this.

"To the kitchen! Elysea saw it there, apparently." she replied.

Another ring.

 _(You have 1 message)_

 _From: Alisa_

 _I saw it go to the garden! Hurry!_

Selena immediately turned the other way, nearly bringing Julius down from the abrupt change of direction.

"What's the big deal, Selena?!" he demanded.

"It went to the garden! This is the quickest way!" she retorted, ignoring the twitching of his eye.

Ring.

 _From: Miki_

 _Um… It was in the living room… with the other fudge rabbits…_

Again, Selena changed directions. Julius felt the need to murder someone.

Ring.

 _From: Hiromu_

 _cross and I saw it go outside. the other fudge rabbits are there too_

Switch…

RING.

"Okay, this is enough." Julius growled, taking his wife's phone right before she was able to read the contents.

"But-"

"We're going circles at this rate, Selena. If you _really_ want to find that thing so badly, let me…"

He summoned Fenrir, the wolf howling aloud.

"Fenrir," he started to say, "For our sanity's sake, find that … _thing_ and bring it to me."

 **3: After months of procrastination… Finally :'D**

 **The next chapter is officially the end of the Joker Arc. We will move along with the plot since we still have an extremely long way to go… owo I will no longer put the arcs in separate chapters, but turn them into sub-plots in the chapters instead.**

 **This arc is necessary since Chess cannot start fighting unless it's all patched up.**

 **On a side note, I really can't take Chess' brothers seriously cuz of their names ovo**

 **The meaning of Joker's message in the previous chapter is… to defeat himself. As in: to accept himself and be able to face his dark self (Joker) head on.**

 **Congratulations to those who figured out the meaning :D**

 **Thanks for reading~**


	15. Joker Arc VI (Final): Showdown

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword nor the OCs I don't own!**

 **3: Err… I'm running out of things to say, so I guess I'll just post these when I actually have something to say owo**

 **Other than that, I will still post replies to reviews :D**

 **Replies~**

 **For Void HighLord Prime:**

 **Yushhh XD**

 **I thought he'd snitch for trolling purposes lol XD**

 **.**

 **For Vindictive Specter:**

 **Hehehe… Got that random idea when I was wondering what plot to write for their phone scenes XD**

 **Hope you enjoyed it, Azu-nii-chan~ :DD**

 **.**

 **For KazeNoKishiX:**

 **Zanardi: GET BACK HEREEE *CHASES WITH A BOWL OF CEREAL***

 **3: Actually, I know Persona 4 :D Persona 3 and 4 are the only ones I know tho X'D**

 **Here's the next chapter~~ :D**

 **.**

 **For Third Cosmic Velocity:**

 **INEE-CHAN! QWQ *TACKLE HUGS***

 **Yes, haha… ovo I still had to put in their names, though…**

 **Thank you XD Glad to have you back too, Inee-chan :DD**

 **.**

 **~On to the story~**

Everyone waited patiently in the living room, their weapons in hand as they prepared to fight. This was war against Joker, and if Chess' story told them anything, it was that he was insanely powerful.

They've already experienced his abilities first-hand. He was able to single-handedly manage all of them at once without a single scratch. Granted, they didn't expect that many card soldiers to show up, but if what Chess told them earlier had been right, it means he was holding back against them that day.

That was not good news.

"We found him." Lint announced, standing by the doorway. "Luckily, he's nowhere near any residential areas. Actually, it almost seems like he's challenging us…"

Chess clenched his fists.

"He's waiting for me, no doubt." he muttered. Lint nodded, narrowing his eyes.

"Remember, Chess. This'll be your fight. We'll be there, but you'll be the one to finish this."

The boy didn't reply, but they knew that deep down he already understood. He was trembling.

"We got your back, bro." En grinned, patting his back. Chess gave him a weak smile.

Lint guided them and soon they were reunited with Chess' other self, sitting atop a tree branch.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," he smirked tauntingly, "Finally decided not to be a wuss this time?"

"I'm not." Chess growled, "Besides, I have my friends with me."

Joker snickered.

"Too bad, then," he said, "They can't help you."

"Why?"

"Because they can't."

"Who said we can't?" Xen narrowed his eyes. As if to prove his point, Ivy snuck up behind Joker with his scimitars and slashed him in half. To their surprise, the blades only went through him.

Two card soldiers appeared from nowhere and disabled him, dragging him away from their master.

"Wha- This is so unfair!" he hissed.

Joker hopped down the tree branch, his hammer materializing in his hand.

"Make another move and he dies." he threatened, the card soldiers aiming their swords at the boy's throat, "This is between me and the brat."

"Ivy!" Nezu called out.

Ivy didn't reply, scared if the swords would end up slicing his neck if he did.

Fear was evident in Chess' eyes. Fear that he'd mess up and end up taking his friend's life.

"You… You didn't have to bring him into this." he drawled nervously.

"He started it first. It was only fair." Joker shrugged. "Beat me, and you free him. Simple."

"Joker…"

"If you're not starting, then I'm going first."

With a single dash, Joker brought himself right in front of his counterpart and swung his hammer. It didn't hit Chess directly, but a magic circle Joker created right between them.

Chess was sent flying upwards, gasping for air from the shock, and before he was able to do anything else he was sent back down with the same trick.

"CHESS!"

"Stay away from them," Lint warned, stretching his arm out to stop them from going further. "This is his fight."

Chess was brought to the middle of the area, coughing painfully as he tried to get back up.

Joker landed a few meters away from him.

"Pathetic. You're still the same weakling as years ago, Chess." he rolled his eyes. "What do you plan to do when you're like this? Leech on your friends? Heh. Fitting."

"I'm not the same anymore." Chess snarled. "I'm… I'm not _as_ weak!"

"Prove it, then. I don't see any difference." Joker sneered.

The boy glared at him bitterly before he closed his eyes. A second later, he opened them and rose back up, staring back at his other self as if unfazed from the damage he did.

"You…" Joker's eyes narrowed. "Huh. So you finally decided to use them after all."

Chess wordlessly went straight towards him. His hands clenched into fists, and he began striking him with swift punches. Joker blocked them all with a magic circle he created, but he soon widened his eyes when a certain punch managed to break his shield and hit his stomach.

The blast sent him backwards before he gained his composure and glared at him, sending card soldiers his way.

Chess closed his eyes once again, and when he opened them, a sword was in his hand.

He placed his weapon against his chest as he bowed his head, saluting, and promptly began ripping the card soldiers into shreds when they reached him.

Joker took the moment of distraction to get behind him and slam his hammer against Chess. The boy, with his eyes closed, didn't budge. The card soldiers tried to attack him too, but it was like stabbing a rock.

He suddenly slammed himself against the many card soldiers, throwing them off their feet, and rushed many meters away from Joker, who had already prepared some kind of spell in his hand.

Chess stood far away, perfectly okay except for his clothes being tattered here and there, and summoned a staff. He opened his eyes, seeing Joker unleashing a giant card soldier before him with the size of a three-story building.

To the organization members' confusion, he began to stroke his nonexistent beard.

"Hohoho… What do we have here?" he asked, looking up. "Ho… So I see."

He slowly raised his staff up, the gem resting on top of it shining with power.

The card soldier didn't wait for him to finish and swung its arm towards him. Before it was able to reach Chess, a meteor struck it down, burning it into ashes.

Joker laughed maniacally.

"You still have your spunk in you, old man." he smirked.

"What can I say?" Chess once again starting stroking his 'beard', "I _am_ popular with the ladies. Ouw!"

He cringed as if something had hit him on the head and lowered his head. When he looked back up, a rapier was in his hand, and he looked absolutely annoyed.

"… What's up with Chess?" Nex blinked, confused.

"It's his ability, the one his family gave him." Lint explained. "He has six souls residing in his body apart from his own. If we count Joker, then eight."

"Ei-" Xen gaped. "What in El…"

"It's where he got his name from. All six souls represent the chess pieces: Pawn, Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, and King. Each of them has different abilities, and judging from that, then I'm guessing that their order of appearance had been Pawn, followed by Knight, Rook, then King." he concluded, staring at 'Chess'. "I'm guessing right now Queen took over."

"How do you know this, Sir?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

"He told me. Remember, I had to ask each of you your abilities during the interview."

"Wait, wait. Something doesn't match." Xen frowned. "If that's the case, then how does Joker fit into all this?"

"That," Lint paused, "is a fine question."

Cain, meanwhile, was still watching the fight tensely. He kept glancing over at Ivy, mentally begging for Chess to win the fight.

Vince was away to take care of The Fab since a lot of customers just came in after the release of a new hairstyle.

Alice watched the fight on her makeshift chair with her arms crossed, scrutinizing them.

Five looked increasingly worried, while Seven remained indifferent. The two stood side by side, next to Rain who was awfully silent.

Amane was sleeping on a hammock that Helios prepared for her. Helios watched, but stayed alert for any attacks that could fly their way.

En was, for once, watching the fight seriously.

Thirteen watched blankly.

Yucca observed the fight thoughtfully.

Xen and Nex were trying to make sense of things while they watched.

Ivy was also watching, all the while cursing at himself for not being able to do anything useful. Neither can any of them for that matter.

"Ignore my husband. He's being a narcissist again." Chess, or Queen, scoffed. "I shall fight you, but only because he was being an idiot. I'd rather not interact with peasants."

Joker rolled his eyes.

" _No," Chess said in their mindscape, "I'll take care of this."_

 _Queen glared at him._

 _She has long golden curls held up in an elegant bun and is wearing an intricate red gown._

" _Do you doubt my competence?"_

" _It's not that." the boy shook his head in fear. "It's just… the fight will never end if we continue this. We have to save Ivy, quickly."_

 _King nodded wisely._

 _He was an old man with white hair and beard wearing dark blue royal garments complete with a golden crown on top of his head._

" _I'll have to agree with him, Dearie. The poor lad doesn't look comfortable in that position." he remarked._

 _Chess nodded, more confident now that King supported him. Queen snorted._

" _I've decided to grace you with mercy by lending my support, but you refuse. Very well, but don't expect that I will help you after this."_

" _Unless it's life threatening?"_

" _Unless it's life threatening." King answered, smiling innocently at Queen's menacing glare._

 _Chess decided to ignore the fact that it wasn't Queen's word and beamed. He turned to Pawn._

 _He looked like a teenage boy having curly brown locks wearing an outfit usually worn by citizens in the medieval era._

 _Pawn tilted his head at him, as if asking for orders._

" _Pawn," he started, "I'll distract him then you catch him, okay?"_

 _The boy smiled in understanding._

" _Okay, Chess."_

Chess opened his eyes, returning to his normal self, and faced Joker. Joker seemed to sense this, raising an eyebrow.

"You're not using your minions?"

"I'm not using them," he denied, "They're fighting with me."

A magic circle, looking like a swirl of the colors black and white, appeared next to him. From it, Pawn, in his spirit form, rose from the ground and immediately took on a stance.

Some of the organization members took a sharp intake of breath at the sudden appearance.

"So you finally decided to summon one of them?" Joker snorted. "But Pawn? Are you kidding me?"

"Pawn's awesome and you know it." Chess retorted, "Don't lie to me."

"Geh."

Pawn shook his head in amusement.

With no alarm, Joker leaped towards them and smashed the ground between them, creating a crater. The two jumped quickly out of harm's way.

Pawn rushed back to Joker and grabbed his arm, slamming him to the ground. It didn't faze Joker at all and he was back up like it was nothing. He then proceeded to block all of Pawn's incoming attacks.

Chess made his way behind him and sought for a sneak attack, but was flipped off by an elbow strike from Joker, who jumped away to face both of them.

He chanted a quick spell, summoning two armored card soldiers into the field, and slammed his hammer into them. It sent them flying towards the two, and they avoided it by the skin of their teeth.

The armors broke down and rolled their way towards them.

Pawn widened his eyes when he saw the armors start to shake. He picked up Chess – earning a surprised yelp from the boy – and brought him away just before they exploded.

"Sharp." Joker allowed. "I nearly got you there too."

Pawn shot an unamused look at him as he set Chess down. The little boy stared at Joker, his mouth agape.

"You nearly killed me!" he hissed.

"It won't." Joker grinned, "Maybe cripple you, but…"

"You're _sick_."

"I try."

Chess was starting to question Joker's sanity, and in turn, _his_ sanity.

" _We're getting nowhere like this. Let's go with Plan C." he said to Pawn in his mindscape. Pawn looked confused._

" _Not Plan B?"_

" _No. That one sucks."_

" _Well, if you say so."_

Chess made his way to Joker, only to get hit by his hammer and slide through the ground.

Pawn quickly started attacking Joker once again, and while he was distracting him, Chess stealthfully took a handful of soil in his hand.

He dashed towards them.

"Hey, Joker!" he called out. Naturally on instinct, Joker turned around, and he was met with a bunch of sand to his face.

He scowled, ridding his face – and eyes – from the particles. Just when he was done, however, his hammer was taken from him and his arms were locked by Pawn.

"I won." Chess nodded, facing him. "Now let go of Ivy."

"That's cheating." Joker deadpanned at him.

"All is fair in war."

"… Good point."

The card soldiers holding Ivy disintegrated. The young man was finally able to let out a relieved sigh.

The organization members rushed towards him. Alice had gone to wake up Amane to join them, ignoring Helios' warning stare.

" _Never_ do that again." Cain scolded, "You had us worried sick."

"Sorry." he sheepishly said, scratching his head.

Satisfied that one of their members was okay, Lint approached the three. He briefly glanced at Joker before focusing on their youngest member.

"What do you suggest we do with him, Chess?" he asked.

Chess was silent, the burden of the situation finally weighing on him.

"I don't know…" he finally said.

"We report him of course." Alice pointed out. "We can't have him running around, can we?"

Chess looked hesitant.

Their director noticed this. He placed a hand on the boy's head in reassurance.

"What's bothering you?" he inquired.

The boy bit his lip.

"It's just..." he mumbled, "Joker is my other self. He'll die if I did, but the same also applies to me."

They widened their eyes. Joker smirked.

"Not so smug now are you?" he teased, earning glares from some of them.

"So basically we can't let him get captured either." Lint concluded.

"… Yes."

"Damn it." Xen cursed. "So even after all this, we can't do a thing about him?"

A few of them shot Joker a very nasty look. The shameless kid just smirked back.

Lint looked at the two thoughtfully.

"Chess, come over here." he said.

He complied, confused.

Suddenly, a large magic circle showed up beneath them.

They all watched as Lint started to chant in a strange language. Then, he touched both Chess and Joker on their foreheads.

Chess started to glow, whereas Joker began to shine so brightly that they had to close their eyes.

Once the light dissipated, Joker was nowhere to be found.

Chess blinked.

"Wha-" En gaped. "What happened, Sir Lint?!"

Lint wiped a sweat from his brows and let out a tired sigh.

"I made a contract between you two." he explained, "Joker is no longer able to appear without your consent. He is, however, still able to talk with you in your mind. I can't do anything about that."

Chess blinked again.

" _What in El just happened?" Joker demanded._

" _Uh…" Chess hesitated, "Apparently, Lint made a contract between us that doesn't allow you taking over me without my allowance."_

" _What."_

"… _Yeah."_

" _Well, that's just peachy." Joker crossed his arms, sitting on the air. "I have no plans on taking over you after this anyway."_

" _About that, why did you do it anyway, Joker?" he frowned. "You were holding back, so I'm pretty sure you weren't trying to kill me."_

" _I'm not suicidal." he scoffed. "I was trying to train you."_

" _What."_

" _Shush, weakling. Feel honored." he sniffed, "Holding back against you is hard, you know."_

Chess was torn whether he should tell what Joker said or not. He was officially and utterly insane.

… He was worried for _his_ sanity now.

"So how's Joker?" Lint asked.

"… He's accepted the situation, at the very least." Chess muttered.

Lint hummed in approval.

"If we're done here, let's get back."

They all nodded, but just when they turned to leave, the organization members widened their eyes as they stood face to face with the police officers, most of them with questioning looks on their faces.

"Explain why you're with a murder suspect. Now." Rizumu glared.

 **~Remakes~**

"That's why it didn't matter whether you were caught or not. You knew you'd disappear anyways. That's why you wanted to train me, in the guise of fighting me…" Chess clenched his fists, biting his lip to keep his tears from falling, "… for my _sake_."

Everyone raised an eyebrow, wondering if Chess pronounced it wrong.

"Exactly," Joker nodded, "You make the finest _sake_ s, Chess, that's why I had to make sure you live."

Everyone stared at Chess with disbelieving faces.

"I'm glad you approve of them, Joker." the boy smiled, wiping the tear from his eye. "In fact, I brought a sample of my next work!"

"Don't mind if I do!"

' _WHAT?!'_ they mentally screeched, others already furiously trying to stop the boy.

.

Chess made his way behind him and sought for a sneak attack, poking his sides.

And thus began the tickle fest.

.

 **For the sake of the weekly schedule update, this week's phone scenes shall be put off.**

 **3: The end of the Joker Arc… with the start of a long-awaited showdown XD**

 **Random info about Chess: If a chess piece was summoned to the real world like Pawn, Chess cannot call forth on the other pieces to take over.**

 **And yes, Joker held back :D If he didn't, honestly, Chess would've died :'D If Chess dies, then he dies too, so…**

 **Don't worry, their OP-ness will be irrelevant in the final battle :D That much I can spoil. And it's not like I can kill off people's OCs either… owo**

 **Lint's ability is the ability to make contracts. It only applies to a maximum of four people, though. When he used super strength a few chapters back, it was because he made a contract to use super power for a limited time. Depending on the request, the duration of the contract will vary.**

 **Chess', however, is a negative effect so the duration is permanent unless Lint removes it.**

 **Thanks for reading~**


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